Roma made a surprising decision back in November, sacking Ivan Juric to bring Claudio Ranieri back to the club, despite the Italian manager retiring just a few months prior. The club sat in 12th place in Serie A when Ranieri arrived at the club, but it’s safe to say he’s turned things around.
The Italian side has climbed to seventh place in the table, and had the season begun on 14 November, when Ranieri took over, Roma would have been fourth.
Losing just three times in the league since he took charge, Ranieri has achieved 2.05 points per game in Serie A, with an overall win percentage of 58.62% in all competitions.
Since his arrival, Ranieri has improved Roma at both ends of the pitch. Only Atalanta have conceded fewer goals since Ranieri arrived, while Roma have scored 33 times in his 20 games in charge.
Roma suffered a disappointing blow as they were eliminated from the Europa League in March. After securing a 2-1 victory at home in the first leg, Ranieri set up his side to defend and hit Athletic Club on the counter-attack.
Unfortunately, a red card for Mats Hummels after just 11 minutes made it an almost impossible task for the Italians to keep Athletic out.
There’s no doubt Roma will have been one of the favourites for the competition heading into the second leg, but they succumbed to defeat as they couldn’t handle Athletic’s attacking threat with 10 men. The focus since has been on Serie A, with a return to European football their season-ending goal.
Ranieri’s side are currently just two points away from the European places in Serie A, while they are also in with a chance of finishing in the Champions League spots if their form continues.
Roma’s league form is only bettered by top of the table Inter Milan, meaning there is no reason they can’t break into the top four. BetMGM has them at a chunky but perhaps the value price of 20/1 to make the top four and qualify for next season’s Champions League.
When Ranieri took over, The Friedkin Group wouldn’t have been expecting the experienced manager to turn Roma into European contenders, considering the performances they were producing before he arrived.
Ranieri signed a deal until the end of the season, with Roma clearly wanting him to come in and steady the ship, but he steered the ship in a direction nobody would have expected.
Paulo Dybala has seen his best form of the campaign come under the tutelage of Ranieri. The 31-year-old has provided seven goals and assists combined in his previous 10 Serie A games and has quickly become a key player under the new manager.
With a solid base behind him, Dybala has been given the freedom to express himself in the final third, and it’s paying dividends for Roma. He returned to the matchday squad against arch-rivals Lazio after being out with a tendon injury.
Conceding just one goal in their previous five games, Ranieri’s side are becoming incredibly difficult to beat, and with full focus now on Serie A, there’s a real opportunity for Roma to climb into the Champions League places before the end of the season.
The impact of Ranieri has been exponential, and it will be interesting to see whether he decides to stay for another year, at least or leaves on a high.
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