What’s happening at Roma? The chaotic timeline as Claudio Ranieri becomes fourth new manager of 2024 | OneFootball

Following an incredible and storied 38-year managerial career, it was time for Claudio Ranieri to sail into the sunset, but his well-deserved retirement only lasted a few months.

Seeing his childhood team, AS Roma, in dire straits propelled Ranieri to stop what he was doing and take charge of their first team for a third spell. He becomes the club’s fourth manager in 2024 after José Mourinho, Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Jurić, with the latter two presiding over this season’s action.

“Before answering any questions, I’d like to clarify a few things,” he told reporters. “I had given up coaching. But I have to say that I received more job offers in the last few months than I did after winning the Premier League with Leicester. It’s incredible but true. And I always said no. I said there were only two circumstances in which I might coach again: either at Roma or at Cagliari. But I fully believed that I’d be watching football from the other side.

“Destiny decided that I should ‘come home’. When I rejoined Cagliari, I said that I’d started my career at Cagliari and I would end it at Cagliari. However, clearly destiny had decided that Roma is where I began my playing career and where I should finish my coaching career and end up as a director. I just wanted to make that clear, for the record, because Cagliari welcomed me in as one of their own.”

There’s a lot on Ranieri’s itinerary, and being parachuted in during the November international break at least gives him some breathing room to evaluate what he’s inherited. De Rossi and Jurić combined left Roma languishing in 12th place on 13 points and 13 points off the pace, having suffered five losses and conceded 17 times while tasting three wins and registering 14 goals. Not since the 2004/05 season had the Giallorossi collected as few points from their opening 12 league fixtures.

Furthermore, they’ve lost four of their last four league games (one win) – as many as they did in their previous 14 Serie A matches (four wins and six draws). In this period (since the eighth matchday), only Como have picked up fewer points (two) than the Giallorossi (three) in Serie A.

Juric, who took charge of eight league games, departs with the lowest points-per-game average of a Roma boss for 20 years. His appointment came after De Rossi was removed following a winless start (three draws and one loss). How the club is being run by The Friedkin Group (who assumed control in August 2020) has understandably infuriated the Roma faithful, who placed a banner outside the club’s training ground that read, “Presidents and directors, leave Roma, you are incompetent and unworthy!”

Bringing in Jose Mourinho was seen as a coup, the much-travelled Portuguese tactician ultimately winning Roma their first-ever piece of European silverware, but the decision to sack him earlier this year was seen by some as short-sighted and replacing him with a club legend De Rossi as more a case of fan service than a long-term vision.

The timeline of Roma’s turmoil:

Ranieri, who has penned a contract until June 2025, will have his work cut out. Roma are way off the league’s best attackers; while not possessing Serie A’s leakiest defence, they are susceptible to making individual errors. Indeed, only Hellas Verona (four) has produced more errors that have led to more goals.

Roma’s three momentarily lapses in concertation have been costly. Those came in narrow one-goal losses against Empoli (1-2) and Inter Milan (0-1) at home and Verona (3-2) on the road. Regarding points gained from a losing position, Roma yielded three points while dropping four from a winning position.

Improving performances on the pitch can only be done by getting players on side; Roma have nine upcoming fixtures in all competitions before the January transfer window, and even then, don’t expect wholesale changes the personnel Ranieri finds himself with is what he’ll need to make do with until season’s end.

And this current squad was bolstered in a big way this past summer with no fewer than nine players arriving, including Artem Dovbyk, Matías Soulé and Enzo Le Fée for a fee, but the addition of World Cup winner Mats Hummels via free agency felt like the cherry on top.

The former Borussia Dortmund centre-back spoke of his excitement of playing under De Rossi, who he grew up watching, only for that collaboration to be cut short. Things didn’t get any better with Juric at the helm, and Hummels was often sidelined.

Things got so bad that he’s reportedly considering ending his playing career, having clocked just 23 minutes of playing time in Serie A since joining. Hummels’ lack of playing time and the chaos around the team have resulted in the centre-back considering his future.

According to Sky Sport, he is willing to leave the club in the January transfer window. Hummels could decide to hang up his boots if no suitable offer arises. But there could be light at the end of the tunnel, with Ranieri suggesting he will play a more prominent role from now on. “I watched a few games. But why shouldn’t this boy play? Let’s see, he’s of a certain age too,” he said. “I choose who makes me win, the good coach is the one who makes the fewest mistakes.”

Given their current predicament, only four points above the danger zone, the margin for error is small.