Zeman revolution at Rome: Is the end near?

Zdenek Zeman is a legendary coach in the Italian peninsula. He is one of those coaches who is equally loved and disliked across the country. So why does such a variation in terms of appreciation exist for a single man and why did it raise so many eyebrows when he was appointed the coach of AS Roma during last summer?

Zeman started his professional coaching career in Italy with the Palermo youth side. After coaching several teams playing in lower divisions of Italian football, his first coaching assignment in top flight Italian football came in 1991 when the second division team Foggia got promoted to Serie A. Foggia, under Zeman, caught the attention of football followers with their attractive brand of attacking football. The Italian clubs at that time were not accustomed to playing that way and hence to refer to this style of football, the term Zemanlandia was coined. In 1994-95, with Foggia again relegated to Serie B after they lost some of their star players, Zeman left to join the Roman club Lazio.

At Lazio, he ensured the club finished in 2nd and 3rd places before being fired in early 1997 and then he joined their cross city rivals, AS Roma. Afterwards, he tried his luck at various other clubs like Fenerbahce, Napoli, Lecce, Brescia in the next decade; he again returned to Foggia, the club that gave him the recognition. At that point, Foggia was struggling in Serie C1. Even though he could not help Foggia get promoted to Serie B, Foggia ended the season with the highest goal-scoring ratio among all the top flight Italian clubs; thanks to Zeman and Zemanlandia. The next season he joined the Serie B side Pescara and helped them gain promotion to Serie A by winning the Serie B title. That season at Pescara also saw the rise of some of the most promising youngsters of Italian football like Marco Veratti, Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne. With the promotion of Pescara, Zeman returned to top flight in Italian football.

With the return of Zeman in Serie A, AS Roma was quick to pounce on that opportunity and appointed him as their head coach in the season 2012-13. Zeman reintroduced his own way of attacking brand of football, with his typical 4-3-3 formation that he epitomized during his stay at Foggia and during his previous stay at Roma. His initial days at Roma saw his style producing desired results. Goals started to flow for the team like anything. His way of footballing received plaudits, especially the way Roma completely dismantled Inter Milan at San Siro, and its victories against the likes of Cagliari, Atalanta and Genoa caught the eyes of many footballing pundits. Goals galore in defeating Fiorentina, Siena and then AC Milan showed that Zemanlandia is back. That marked the beginning of Zeman revolution in Rome. With a winning streak that continued for 5 games, Roma climbed to the number 5 spot in the Serie A standings. With a Champions League spot well within sight, Roma’s downfall started with their visit to Chievo.

The honeymoon period that Zeman enjoyed during the initial days of the season at Roma soon started to fade out. Following defeat at the hands of Chievo, Roma also lost against Napoli and Catania. With further dropping of points against Inter and Bologna, Roma are currently lying at number 8 spot, adrift of 9 points from the Champions League spot.

The same fans, who once appreciated Zeman and his attacking style of play, started criticizing him for his lack of concern over conceding goals. Even though Roma have scored the highest number of goals in Serie A, they also have conceded the second highest number of goals just behind Pescara. It is their porous defence that has really saw them struggle and saw them dropping points even after taking leads. In the Udinese game, they took a 2-0 lead but a defensive collapse saw them losing 3-2.

Sporting director Walter Sabatini is of the opinion that once a better replacement for Zeman is found, he could be replaced if results do not improve in the near future. The current dip in form and the inability of the team to hold on to leads was considered as failure of Zeman’s tactics.

Only time will tell whether Zeman can stay at Roma or not, but Zeman’s Roma revolution that took the footballing world by storm has faded.