How far can AS Roma push this Serie A season under Claudio Ranieri?

Roma have won four out of their last five games under Ranieri.

The words “Claudio Ranieri is the newly appointed coach of the first team” were posted on AS Roma’s website in an announcement on November 14, 2024.

All of this had transpired in a flash, with Ranieri becoming the most likely candidate to succeed Ivan Juric just a few nights before his return was officially announced (and not before a period of widespread uncertainty over alternatives). Claudio Ranieri was in control of Roma for the third time.

It will take some time to adequately analyze how his third spell will be evaluated, and the response was very varied. But a month after his confirmation seems like a good moment to provide an update on his progress.

How AS Roma are playing fluent football under Claudio Ranieri?

For the first time this season, AS Roma have won four of their past five games, which gives faith that Ranieri is leading them in the right way. Ultimately, there were games earlier in the season that Roma were supposed to win but failed to do so.

It might be a logical result of Roma’s somewhat more aggressive strategy under Ranieri now. Although the players are still figuring out what to do in the last third, they are showing greater resolve to succeed and are being given the opportunity to try.

Nine different players have contributed to all 16 of AS Roma’s goals since Ranieri returned.

It indicates that players are running more effectively from midfield and other areas and that there is more belief being developed throughout the Roma team.

Paulo Dybala and Artem Dovbyk are two prominent players who are missing from that list of scorers. After fumbling their chances a few times in recent weeks while showing signs of promise, it would be great to see Dovbyk resuming his part of the goalscoring responsibilities as the primary striker.

In contrast, Dybala is beginning to reappear in areas with some of his former brilliance. Overall, he hasn’t been very good this season, but it’s beginning to seem like he might start producing more.

AS Roma's last 5 games… ✅ 4-1 win vs Lecce ✅ 3-0 win vs Braga❌ 2-0 loss to Como✅ 4-1 win vs Sampdoria ✅ 5-0 win vs ParmaClaudio Ranieri at the age of 73, still going strong in the management game. 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/7uL5yQvJEn

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) December 22, 2024

Other players are also getting better, like Abdulhamid, who recently benefited from his opportunity at right wing-back, Kone, who is still on the rise (having already begun to gain influence toward the end of Juric’s tenure), and Mats Hummels, who is now getting a chance.

One of the biggest mysteries of Juric’s reign was Hummels‘ frequent absence. But Ranieri has faith in the legendary German defender, and Roma are beginning to appear more stable with him. Could this be a coincidence? The likelihood is that it isn’t.

With these Roma players, Ranieri hasn’t yet done anything particularly noteworthy. Given the situation, that wasn’t to be anticipated. However, he appears to have settled on a configuration (3-4-2-1) to work with after some early signature experimenting. In spite of this, he is streamlining their strategy and improving the response from his players as a result, just as he was able to do during his second stint.

How far can AS Roma push this Serie A season with Claudio Ranieri?

What Roma have done under the former Leicester City coach is truly impressive but their four wins have come against a side who are below the top 10. This indicates they are yet to meet the real test in the league.

However, when they faced Como, who are 15th in the league, they lost 2-0. This is where they should have done better. But now their next three games will be against top sides and it will be interesting to see how they turn up against them which will certainly define their season under Ranieri.

The Italian has let Leicester to the Premier League title, but it won’t be easy here. However, what he can achieve is a spot in the top four if the players continue to put up consistent performance because certainly there is massive improvement in their efforts. All they have to do is sustain it until the end of the season to end it on a positive note.

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