Roma Run Riot at Torino: Malen and Pisilli Seal Commanding 2-0 Win
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
Let me tell you something about Roma right now. Five wins from their last five in Serie A. Fourteen goals scored, one conceded. That is not a run of luck. That is a team with standards, with desire, with the basics drilled into them. Torino came into this match in poor shape and Roma made them pay for every single weakness. End of.
The Match in Simple Terms
Torino had the ball more. Fifty-three per cent possession. They had five hundred and eight passes, more than Roma's four hundred and thirty-nine. None of that mattered because Roma had seventy-one dangerous attacks to Torino's twenty-seven. Possession without threat is just keep-ball. It is a waste of everyone's time, including the people in the stands.
Roma were aggressive, direct, and utterly dominant in the areas that decide matches. Twelve shots inside the box against Torino's four. Fourteen shots in total against eight. Eight corners against one. Twenty-six total crosses against seven. Torino had the ball and Roma had the game. That is the difference between a team that competes and a team that goes through the motions.
Malen Does the Damage Before Half-Time
The thing is, this match was effectively settled before the interval. Donyell Malen put Roma ahead on forty minutes with a right-foot shot and the confidence with which Roma were operating, you never felt Torino had the quality or the attitude to claw it back.
Look at the Torino injury situation going into this game. They had multiple players out and it showed in the organisation of the side. But that is not an excuse I am prepared to accept entirely. The players on that pitch were still professional footballers. They managed one corner all match. One. You cannot compete at this level putting out that kind of effort in the final third.
Roma, for their part, were composed and purposeful. Seven accurate crosses. Eleven successful dribbles from thirteen attempts, an eighty-five per cent success rate. Roma moved the ball with intent and when they found the spaces, they exploited them without hesitation.
Torino Fall Apart After the Break
Torino made two substitutions at half-time, bringing on Daniel Bragança and Alessio Cacciamani. It is the kind of double change that tells you the manager knew exactly how bad the first half had been. The problem is, you cannot fix a lack of desire with a substitution. Accountability starts before kick-off.
Roma made their own changes on fifty-seven minutes, bringing on Santiago Castro and Rodrigo Mora for Malen and Matías Soulé. Smart game management. When you are one up against a side that cannot create danger, you bring on fresh legs and you see it out. Roma were professional to their fingertips.
Torino were reduced to ten men at some point during the second half, with the statistics confirming a red card for the home side. That tells its own story. A team that is already second best, now down to ten men, with no clean sheet in their last five Serie A matches and nine goals conceded across those games. Torino were not just losing. They were unravelling.
Pisilli Finishes the Job in Stoppage Time
Niccolò Pisilli had been booked on seventy-two minutes for a foul. He responded in the best way possible. In the ninety-third minute, Pisilli drove home a right-foot shot to make it 2-0 and confirm what everyone in the ground already knew. Roma had been the better side from the first whistle to the last.
The fact that Pisilli scored despite picking up a yellow card earlier shows the character in this Roma squad. That is what accountability looks like. You make a mistake, you deal with it, you go and do your job. Torino could learn from that example.
Torino's Form Cannot Be Ignored
In their last ten Serie A matches, Torino have won three, drawn three, and lost four. They have conceded fifteen goals. Their clean sheet percentage in that period sits at ten per cent. One clean sheet in ten matches. That is a defensive record that is simply unacceptable for a side that wants to be taken seriously.
Their recent results speak plainly. A defeat to Sassuolo. A defeat to AC Milan. A defeat to Cagliari. Three losses from the last five, with nine goals conceded in those five matches and not a single clean sheet. That is not a blip. That is a pattern. The basics at the back are not being executed and until that changes, results like this one will keep coming.
Roma's Quality is No Accident
Nine wins from their last ten Serie A matches. One draw. Twenty-seven goals scored, four conceded. A clean sheet percentage of seventy per cent across that ten-match sample. Roma are not flattered by those numbers. They earned every one of them.
The desire and the work rate in this team are obvious. Twenty-one tackles in this match against Torino's fourteen. Seventeen interceptions against six. Roma pressed, they competed, and they executed. They gave Torino nothing for free. That is what a team with proper standards looks like.
Roma also committed twenty fouls, which shows they were not shy about getting into the physical battles. They picked up two yellow cards, Mario Hermoso booked on sixty-one minutes and Pisilli on seventy-two. But they never lost control of the match. They stayed organised, stayed dangerous, and took their chances when they came.
The Verdict
Torino were poor. Roma were excellent. The scoreline of 2-0 flatters the home side if anything, given how one-sided the contest was across ninety minutes. Three big chances missed by Torino, three big chances created but not taken by Roma in the final reckoning of the game. Roma could have had more.
Listen, Roma's form right now is as good as anything in Serie A. Five wins from five, fourteen goals, one against. If they maintain that level of desire and that standard of execution, they will be competing for everything this season. Torino, meanwhile, need a serious look at themselves in the mirror. The effort and the basics are not there. That is on everyone at that club. End of.
