Serie A – First half review: Parma versus Roma
Parma and Roma took on each other in an interesting first half of their Serie A match at Stadio Ennio Tardini. Both sides took the field as they were desperate to secure a result given their respective positions in the standings. Parma slipped to bottom
following Fiorentina's victory over Bari on Saturday evening, whilst Roma were in need of a victory as Claudio Ranieri's job hung in the balance.
Parma started off as the brighter side as at the very start o the match in the 3rd minute, they pushed forward with some quick passing down the right flank. A wonderful piece of skill by midfielder Marques opened up space for a shot. The midfielders
cracking drive towards the goal was on target but Roma’s goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont punched the ball over the over. Parma again broke in attack as in the 5th minute as Francesco Valiani whipped in an accurate cross in from the right but Valeri Bojinov
headed it right over the bar and thus the Bulgarian striker failed to trouble the Roman goalkeeper.
Roma’s first real attack on the Parma’s goal came in the 13thminute as David Pizarro’s lob found Arne Riise at the far post. However despite the pin point pass, the Norwegian wing back headed the ball over the bar. In the 15th minute
Alessandro Lucarelli, the Parma defender played his way towards the line and then whipped in a cross inside the danger area for his team mate Bojinov, however yet again the Bulgarian failed to capitalize on the occasion as Roma’s defender Philippe Mexes cleared
the ball away.
The 23rd minute of the match saw Roma attack once again and this time it was Mirko Vucinic who opened up space down the left hand side and the Serbian striker played a good ball into the box. However the pass was intercepted by Stefano Morrone,
who scrambled the ball clear by knocking it out of his team’s penalty area.
In the 27th minute, Roma tried to get their opening goal of the match as Pizzaro found Vucinic at the back post inside the Parma penalty area but the striker was off balanced and thus he failed to get a shot on target. After a slow start to the
match Roma slowly played their way into the encounter, they tried to find their captain, Francesco Totti on every possible opportunity. No doubt Totti was Roma’s best player in the first half as the attacking midfielder and the former Italian national team
member made clever runs and tried to create goal scoring opportunities for his team mates. At the back, Roma were marshalled quite well by Mexes but Parma’s wingers tried to exploit defensive weak links in Roma’s back line such as John Arne Riise on the left
hand side and Cicinho on the right.
The first yellow card of the match went to Massimo Gobbi who brought down Totti near the half way line. The midfielder was penalized by the referee for his late tackle and was duly given a caution. After Gobbi got booked in the 35th minute of
the match for Parma, his team mate Blerim Dzemaili also got booked in the 37th minute for a foul on Marco Boriello.
In the 39th minute, Parma had their best chance of the match as Marquez also found a way past the Roman defence after he was played in my his midfield partners. However, the goal scoring midfielder failed to show his prolific touch as his shot
sailed way over the goal post. It was a disappointing miss for Parma, who clearly looked like the better team in the dying moments of the first half. Nonetheless, the first half of the match came to a conclusion with both the teams deadlocked on a score line
of nil all.
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