Roma sack coach Juric after four losses in last five league games

ROMA: AS Roma have sacked coach Ivan Juric, the Serie A club said on Sunday, as the Croatian became the capital side’s second coach to be fired this season.

Roma lost 3-2 at home against Bologna on Sunday, their fourth loss in the last five league games, leaving them 12th in the standings.

“We would like to thank Ivan Juric for his hard work these past weeks,” Roma said in a statement.

“He handled a difficult environment with the utmost professionalism, and for that we are grateful… the search for a new head coach has already begun and an announcement will be made in the coming days.”

Former Italy coach Roberto Mancini is reportedly in talks with club owners to take over, La Gazzetta dello Sport said.

Roma appointed Juric in September to become their third coach in the span of eight months after they sacked Daniele De Rossi.

De Rossi, who spent nearly two decades at Roma as a player, was appointed as head coach in January after Jose Mourinho was fired.

Juric, formerly coach at Torino, Hellas Verona and Genoa, started off with consecutive home wins against Udinese and Venezia in the league, either side of a 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League.

His good run, however, ended there and Roma won only once in their next six league games.

Juric’s approach to the game proved to be his downfall, as the man-to-man marking he imposed sat uneasily with a side that preferred to be possession-oriented with more freedom to create opportunities.

While his 3-4-2-1 formation worked in the first three matches, it did not take long for opponents to exploit Roma’s discomfort with the set-up which led them to make crucial errors in both defence and attack, as seen against Bologna.

Without striker Paulo Dybala, absent with a muscle strain in Juric’s final game, Roma created a host of chances against Champions League side Bologna but went behind after 25 minutes when forward Santiago Castro scored for the visitors.

Stephan El Shaarawy equalised after the hour mark but Riccardo Orsolini restored the lead for Bologna three minutes later and Jesper Karlsson made it 3-1 in the 77th, before El Shaarawy added his second.

Roma have picked up 13 points so far this season, making it their worst start after the first 12 Serie A games in the last 20 years.

They face a challenging set of fixtures after the international break when they travel to leaders Napoli on Nov. 24, before visiting Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League and hosting high-flying Atalanta in the league on Dec. 2.