A defeat that shows the pattern
Cagliari went to the Stadio Olimpico on 27 October and lost 4-2 to Roma, according to [1]. It was a third consecutive league defeat, and the second heavy one in a row on the road after the 4-0 loss at Monza. The same side had held Juventus to a 1-1 draw at home on 11 October, so the fall has been quick.
Roma’s winning margin came from their substitutes. A [2] matchday roundup reports that Mora and Malen came off the bench to win it for the visitors. Football Italia’s earlier preview had pencilled Mora in to start behind Malen, so the exact roles are worth treating with some caution. The broader point stands: Roma had attacking options to change the game, and Cagliari had no answer once they arrived.
For a team that conceded 13 goals in nine league games, four more in one night is the sort of number that will draw attention in training this week. Cagliari did score twice, which is more than they managed against Monza or Bologna, but it was not enough to turn the match.
Trepy returns, Winks is lost
The most human story of the night was the return of striker Yael Trepy. [1] reports that he came off the bench about two months after nearly drowning in a swimming pool and being treated in intensive care. His appearance in a Serie A match is a notable moment whatever the scoreline, and the club’s fitness status for him is listed as fit.
The news elsewhere in the squad is less welcome. Harry Winks is out with a back injury suffered in the defeat to Bologna, and the [3] also list Felici and Idrissi on the treatment table. Winks’s absence removes a midfield option at a moment when Cagliari are struggling to control matches.
Up front, the preview from [4] had Paul Mendy as favourite to start ahead of Kevin Carlos. The same line-up report notes that Yukinari Sugawara made his first start for Cagliari, a small piece of rotation in a week when the squad was already stretched.
From strong start to three straight losses
Cagliari began the season well enough that the current run feels sharper by contrast. [3] describes them as having fallen away after a strong start, citing the 4-0 loss at Monza and the 2-0 home defeat to Bologna. Their recorded results show a 1-0 away win at Udinese on 19 September and the draw with Juventus, before the three defeats.
The goal difference tells the story most clearly. Cagliari have scored 8 and conceded 13 in nine matches, and the last three games alone account for 10 of those goals against. In that run they have scored only twice, both at Roma. Defensive stability, which looked like the foundation of the early results, has gone.
With Winks missing and Felici and Idrissi unavailable, the coaching staff have limited room to change the shape without weakening another area. That makes the next fixture an awkward test of how much they can fix in a few days.
What it means
The table still looks respectable. Cagliari are ninth in Serie A with 13 points from nine games (four wins, one draw, four defeats), with 8 goals scored and 13 conceded. That position owes much to the early results, and form says the direction is downwards: three straight league losses, with a 0-4, a 0-2 and a 2-4 among them.
The next fixture asks a hard question. Cagliari visit Lazio on 1 November, and the same Football Italia roundup has Lazio at the top of the table, with Inter three points behind them. A side short of midfield cover and leaking goals will have to find a way to stay compact against the league leaders, and the early-season pattern of tight, low-scoring wins is the one they will probably have to rediscover.
The positives are modest but real: Trepy is back in the squad, Sugawara has his first start behind him, and the team can still score. predict.game’s forecast for Lazio v Cagliari locks 24 hours before kick-off, and we will grade it publicly afterwards.
Sources
- Football Italia: Cagliari joy as Trepy returns 2 months after nearly drowning football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: Today’s Papers: Lazio hit six, goals for everyone, over to Inter and Milan football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: Serie A official line-ups: Roma vs. Cagliari football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: Serie A: Roma vs. Cagliari – probable line-ups, where to watch on TV football-italia.net ↩
