AS Roma vs Pisa: Post-match analysis

Right, where do I even start with this one. Donyell Malen. Hat-trick. Fifty-two minutes on the clock. Done. Dusted. Absolute scenes. Gasperini's Roma put a proper hiding on Pisa, 3-0, and honestly it was one of those nights where you just sit back and enjoy watching a man who is completely in the zone. Malen was unplayable. Pisa were... there. That's about as kind as I can be.

Three Minutes In and It Was Already Over

Look, when your goalkeeper hasn't made a single save by the end of the match... zero saves, mate... you've had a nightmare. The Pisa keeper was a spectator. Roma were three up before the hour mark and Malen had all three of them. Third minute, forty-third minute, fifty-second minute. That second one just before half time was the killer, wasn't it. Pisa thought they'd got to the break relatively intact, down only one, maybe regroup at half time... and then Malen went and ruined that entirely. The interval hit differently after that.

The Stats Are Weird and That's Fine

Honestly, I actually looked at the numbers for once and... they are a bit strange. Pisa had 9 total shots to Roma's 8. Pisa had 5 shots on goal to Roma's 3. And yet the scoreline is 3-0 to Roma. How does that work? Right, this is where I have to bring up the thing the analytics lot love... expected goals... which apparently had Roma at 1.53 and Pisa at 1.26. So the numbers said this should have been tight. What the numbers didn't account for was Donyell Malen being absolutely ruthless and converting everything he touched, while Roma's keeper made 5 saves to keep the clean sheet. That's football, mate. Clinical finishing wins matches. Not the little decimal numbers. Don't @ me.

Expected Goals vs Reality: Roma xG: 1.53, Pisa xG: 1.26, Roma Actual Goals: 3, Pisa Actual Goals: 0

Malen Was Just Different Class

Donyell Malen

Third minute. Forty-third minute. Fifty-second minute. That is a hat-trick spread across a full match but also... it wasn't really, was it. He got two before half time and then came out and added a third within seven minutes of the restart. Game. Over. Gasperini took him off at seventy-eight minutes, which is exactly right. Hat-trick done, clean sheet looking comfortable, get him off the pitch and keep him fresh. Smart management. You heard it here first, Malen is having himself a season.

Roma's Home Form Is Genuinely Frightening

Look at the fixtures and look at what Roma do at home. Eleven wins from sixteen home games, only 9 goals conceded in those 16 matches. Nine! That is a fortress. Gasperini has turned their home record into something genuinely serious. They've scored 26 at home and let in barely anything. Pisa came here with zero away wins from 16 away games this season... zero, mate... and you just knew this was going to be rough for them.

Pisa Are in Serious Trouble

I don't want to pile on because Gilardino is dealing with a proper difficult situation, but the numbers for Pisa are grim reading. 18 points from 32 games. A goal difference of -35. They've conceded 58 goals this season. Fifty-eight. And their away record... not a single win in 16 away matches. Eight draws, eight losses. Thirty-nine goals conceded on the road. Look, they got 3 corners in this game to Roma's 1, they had more shots on goal on the night, they weren't completely absent. But when you're bottom of Serie A and your keeper isn't making saves because your defenders are managing to block things somehow... the problems are deep. Gilardino has a mountain to climb and I reckon Serie A survival is going to take something close to a miracle from here.

One thing that does stick out though... Roma only won 1 corner all night despite having 59% of the ball. Their season average is 5.5 corners per game and they got one here. Madness. Just goes to show the stats you'd expect to follow possession don't always show up. Pisa actually earned 3 corners to Roma's 1. Funny old game.

The Signal and What Actually Happened

Right so the signal went with Roma to win, which... yes, obviously, came in. Three nil. Comfortable. Job done. The model had both teams at similar form levels going in, which... look, on recent form both sides had been struggling a bit. Roma's last five was WLWLL going into this. Pisa's was LLLWL. Neither side was flying. But there's a big difference between form on paper and what happens when you send a winless-away-from-home side to face a team who only concede 9 at home all season. Sometimes the fixture tells you everything. And then Malen tells you the rest.

Gasperini will be delighted. Sixth in Serie A, 57 points, and a performance that showed exactly what his side can do when the striker is on. Pellegrini came off at half time, Soulé Malvano came on at sixty-five, and Gasperini rotated sensibly once the game was already won. Çelik picked up a yellow card early in the second half which probably hurried his substitution at seventy-eight. All in all, tidy management of a game that never really needed managing after Malen made it look that easy. Scenes.