Como Hold Roma to a 0-0 Draw Despite Malen Red Card as Visitors Waste Numerical Advantage
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
Final score: Como 0-0 AS Roma. Write that down. Stare at it. Because it tells you everything you need to know about what happened at Como on Sunday.
Roma went down to ten men on 53 minutes. Como had 66 per cent of the ball. Como had 19 shots to Roma's nine. Como missed four big chances. Four. And they still could not score. Listen, that is not bad luck. That is a finishing problem. End of.
The Red Card That Changed Nothing
Donyell Malen was sent off for a foul in the 53rd minute. A straight red. Roma were down to ten men for over half an hour. At that point, you back Como to win this comfortably. They had the crowd, they had the ball, they had the numbers.
They did not score. Not once.
The thing is, a red card only matters if you have the quality and the composure to make it count. Como had 124 attacks in this match. Seventy-three of those were classified as dangerous. They earned six corners to Roma's two. They created four big chances. And they missed every single one of them.
Roma's goalkeeper made four saves. Four. That is not a performance that should earn you a clean sheet when you are playing with ten men for 37 minutes. But here we are.
Roma's Discipline Was a Disgrace
Before we get too deep into Como's finishing woes, Roma's conduct in this match deserves its own conversation. Three yellow cards. One red card. An argument booking for Matías Soulé at 62 minutes, just 16 minutes after he had come on as a substitute. That is unacceptable. You walk off the bench and within the hour you are in the referee's face. What are you doing.
Marten de Roon was booked for a foul at 46 minutes. Manu Koné was booked for a foul at 57 minutes. The pattern is obvious. Roma were cynical and desperate and they still got away with a point. That should embarrass them.
Assane Diao picked up a yellow for Como at the 45th minute for an argument. Not ideal either. You are at home. You are in control. Keep your head.
Como Dominated Every Meaningful Stat
The numbers are not flattering to Roma and they are not particularly kind to Como either, given the result.
Como completed 615 passes with an accuracy of 91 per cent. Roma completed 269. Como won 15 of their 18 tackles. They made 12 interceptions to Roma's seven. They had 12 key passes to Roma's seven. On every territorial and technical measure, Como were the better side.
And yet. The scoreboard read zero. The thing is, all of that possession and all of those statistics only matter when you put the ball in the net. Basics. You have to score. It is the most basic requirement in football and Como failed at it completely today.
Roma hit the woodwork once. They had three players caught offside. They were hanging on. Their goalkeeper was the busier of the two, making four saves to Como's two. But Roma's defensive organisation, even with ten men, held firm where Como's composure in front of goal did not.
Roma's Squad Depth Got Them Through
Roma came into this match with three injury absences. All three confirmed as out. That is significant. You lose that much from your squad and you travel away, go down to ten men, and still come home with a point. Credit where it is due, even if the manner of it was ugly and ill-disciplined.
The substitution of Lorenzo Pellegrini at half time, replaced by Matías Soulé, told you Roma's manager was trying to change something. Soulé then got himself booked. Mario Hermoso made way for Leonardo Balerdi at 60 minutes. Manu Koné was taken off for Niccolò Pisilli at 89 minutes. Paulo Dybala was withdrawn late as well. Roma were managing the situation, protecting what they had, which was a clean sheet and a body in the sin bin.
It worked. That is the results business. It is not pretty but it is a point away from home after playing 37 minutes with ten men.
Como's Missed Chances Will Haunt Them
Four big chances created. Four big chances missed. That is a clean sheet at both ends of that category and it is the reason this result reads 0-0.
Como's recent form coming into this showed they were capable of scoring. Three wins from five in Serie A, with nine goals. They beat Napoli. They beat Genoa four goals to one. The attacking quality is there. Today it was not.
The substitutions came. Jesús Rodríguez for Maxence Caqueret on 66 minutes. Martin Baturina for Lucas Da Cunha on 78 minutes. Three more changes at 88 minutes. Como threw everything at it. Baturina was booked in stoppage time for a foul. That tells you everything about the frustration on the Como side. They were chasing something that kept slipping away.
Roma's form going into this match showed four wins and a draw from five Serie A games, conceding only three goals in that run and keeping three clean sheets. That defensive structure clearly does not disappear even when they lose a man. Como could not break it down.
The Bottom Line
Roma arrive, get a player sent off, give away fouls all afternoon, show no desire to play football, and leave with a clean sheet. Como dominate the match from start to finish with better possession, more shots, more attacks, more key passes, and finish with nothing.
Accountability has to start with the forwards. You cannot miss four big chances in a match where the opposition plays 37 minutes with ten men and call it bad luck. That is a standards issue. Como's manager will know it. The players should know it.
Roma's ill-discipline cannot go unpunished in the long run either. Three players carded, one sent off. That is not a mentality that holds up over a season. Today it held up. Eventually it will cost them.
A draw that satisfies nobody, earns Roma an unlikely point, and leaves Como asking serious questions about what they do when they actually get their big chances. The answer today was nothing.
