Even though Maxime Gonalons has made some frustrating, costly errors and has been heavily derided since joining AS Roma from Lyon in the summer, it’s been positive to see Roma manager, Eusebio Di Francesco, continually encourage and keep faith in the Frenchman.
Listening to Di Francesco speak about his midfielder over the last couple of weeks, and it would be giving Gonalons great confidence to hear his coach constantly coming to his defence. Although the Italian tactician has lamented the mistakes, he’s also noted how much of Gonalons’ excellent work should be appreciated, not just merely overlooked in the wake of his errors.
In the aftermath of the Giallorossi’s win over Genoa last week, a match where Gonalons committed an unfortunate mishap prior to Gianluca Lapadula’s goal, Di Francesco was again willing to stand up for the 29-year-old and insist on highlighting his qualities.
“He’s always in the thick of the action and anyone can make a mistake in possession. The goal we conceded [against Genoa] started with him but it wasn’t a mistake as such, although he perhaps could have done better,” he asserted.
“Look at the balls we won, the aerial duels he won and that pass he gave [Alessandro] Florenzi – if we’d scored from that people would be saying Gonalons had a great game. He may not have done anything ‘special’ but people should appreciate what he does do. He’s always there helping his team-mates and as a coach that’s exactly what you want to see.”
Handed a start in the Wolves’ following match with SPAL, Gonalons impressively repaid his manager’s faith by putting in a hugely positive performance. A key figure in the 3-0 win over Leonardo Semplici’s men, there was certainly plenty to admire about his exertions.
Often dropping deep between Roma’s centre-backs, he assisted greatly in Roma’s build up, where his movement created a 3v2 numerical superiority for his side to progress upfield smoothly. Moreover, upon noticing the ball moving into wide areas, the athletic holder would crucially shift across to form triangles and diamonds to support the man in possession while ensuring an overload was generated.
In addition, the way he’d drop back and provide cover for Federico Fazio whenever he stepped up to challenge his marker notably saw Roma’s defensive structure remain in tact, for he filled the gap left by the Argentine.
Arguably the biggest takeaway from his time afield came through his passing prowess, however. Whether playing penetrative, line breaking passes towards his attackers, precise switches of play, more intricate passes in close or keeping things simple, Gonalons’ aptitude here saw him illuminate and dictate many of Roma’s offensive excursions.
Although the man who’s predominantly served as Daniele De Rossi’s backup has had his critics since moving to the Italian capital, it was terrific to see him vindicate Di Francesco’s decision to persist with him against SPAL. Roma’s boss duly made a point of praising his charge’s impact in his post-match comments, gleaming: “I’d like to stress how well [Maxime] Gonalons did too though, because people tend to only point out his mistakes. He was solid all round and showed skill and determination. I’m happy for him because he always works so hard for the team.”
With the full backing of his manager and the vital confidence that will come from his crafty outing vs. the Biancazzurri, who knows, we might just see him get back to the form that compelled Roma snap him to up in the first place.
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