Rome arrives in Naples with the season already asking questions of depth, identity and resilience. Sunday’s eighth-round meeting at the Maradona is more than a demanding away afternoon for Roma: it comes with Lorenzo Pellegrini injured, Paulo Dybala unavailable and a crowded calendar that leaves little room for recovery. Napoli, meanwhile, approach the contest after a Champions League win over Bodo/Glimt and with their own need to turn an unsettled start into a more convincing league campaign.
The coach and the club
Max Tonetto, who wore the Roma shirt from 2006 to 2010, expects a balanced contest between two sides carrying different forms of pressure. In his view, Napoli have the hunger of a team looking for a response, while Roma must recognise the opportunity in the home side’s early weaknesses.
“Napoli will want to react strongly,” Tonetto said. “Matches like this can alter a season, including psychologically. Beating a title rival such as Roma could help them, but Roma must bring out the fragilities Napoli have shown at the beginning of the campaign.”
For Roma, the immediate concern is Pellegrini. Tonetto described the midfielder’s problem as a serious injury, particularly damaging in a period in which the team is playing every three days and has already lost Dybala. Pellegrini had been regaining fitness and rhythm, and Tonetto believes his absence removes an important option from a squad that needs competition for places to sustain its standards across a long season.
He also singled out Lulli as one of the players who has impressed him most. Despite his age, Tonetto feels the player suits Gian Piero Gasperini’s football, offering qualities not found in Roma’s established wide options. His ability to cover the entire flank over 90 minutes, he said, could make him an important discovery.
At Napoli, Massimiliano Allegri is still searching for a stable balance, according to Tonetto. The former Roma defender sees an experienced coach willing to adjust when performances demand it, aided by a group containing several adaptable players.
“Allegri knows the game and he changes things when he sees they are not working,” Tonetto said. “He has versatile players who allow him to do that. At the moment, though, he is still looking for equilibrium. The formation is not the central issue until he finds the right way for his team to play.”
Selection problems and possible solutions
The benches may matter as much as the starting line-ups at the Maradona. Tonetto did not regard Gasperini’s recent substitutions as tactical mistakes, but as decisions shaped by absences. Roma have even had to alter all three central defenders over two matches, an unusual situation that reflects the strain on the squad.
Napoli, by contrast, have more room to alter their defensive choices. Tonetto identified Wesley as a potentially decisive attacking alternative if he can be relieved of substantial defensive work, allowing him to focus on finding a goal or an assist.
Rodrigo Mora remains another point of attention for Roma. Tonetto urged patience after a match against Real in which the young player made a positive entrance but was subsequently caught up in the criticism that followed the overall result. He believes Gasperini is the right coach to develop Mora gradually, managing his minutes while drawing out his technical quality.
Tonetto also noted that Cristante has been out for a considerable spell and could become valuable once fully fit, especially from set pieces. A possible attacking trio of Malen, Soulé and Mora has been discussed, but he stressed that Gasperini’s choices are likely to depend on the characteristics required for a particular match rather than simply selecting his strongest eleven on paper.
Roma’s past in its present
Beyond the immediate league contest, Tonetto reflected on a club approaching its centenary and on the place former captains should occupy around Roma. He hopes Francesco Totti will return to an official role, arguing that a celebration of the club’s hundredth year would feel incomplete without Totti, Bruno Conti and Daniele De Rossi, three figures he described as essential to Roma’s history.
Seeing Totti in the stands has given Tonetto hope that such a return may happen. He is less concerned by the debate over whether Totti’s number 10 should be retired. Whatever decision is made, he said, cannot diminish Totti’s achievements. Keeping the shirt number available, however, would preserve a dream for a future Roman, Roma-supporting player hoping to wear it.
That emotional connection was revived when Niccolò Pisilli, a Roman and Roma supporter, wore the captain’s armband in the Champions League. For Tonetto, it remains one of the enduring images of the game: a local player carrying the responsibility of his own club.
“I am a romantic,” he said. “I love those moments. They are still the essence of football.”
