Every Serie A season has its fair share of shock results, but fans did not have to wait long to see the first of what will certainly be many during the 2022/23 campaign.
On Sunday, Roma took on Udinese. While the Zebrette had improved their fortunes since an opening day 4-2 loss to Milan by picking up a draw against Salernitana followed by back to back wins against Monza and Fiorentina, the general consensus was that the Giallorossi were the heavy favorites to leave the Dacia Arena with at least a point, but very likely more in hand.
After all, Roma, while not inspiring in their 1-0 wins over minnows Salernitana and Cremonese, were showing signs of improvement during their 1-1 draw with Juventus and their very comfortable 3-0 win over newly promoted Monza.
Hence, Sunday's match really took many by surprise, with Roma appearing to be nothing like the side that had easily cruised to a win over Monza in the prior round.
Indeed, by the time the dust settled, it was Udinese celebrating a 4-0 victory, which certainly could have been a more embarrassing result for Roma had the Zebrette not wasted some additional chances.
The result has seen Roma tumble down the standings, from joint-tied at the top of the table into fifth spot. Udinese, for their part, now have risen to fourth thanks to their impressive performance, which makes it three wins on the spin for Andrea Sottil's side.
While Mourinho remained sanguine after the result, notably stating that, "I prefer to lose one match 4-0 than four matches 1-0" in a post-match interview, in essence, it is safe to say that this will be a match the decorated Portuguese tactician will want to forget in a hurry.
For it just so happens to be the first time in his Serie A career that he has been in charge of a team that have lost by four goals, and in fact, this is the third time across his managerial stint that he has been on the tactician's bench that his side have shipped four or more goals:
3 - Udinese-Roma 4-0 is the largest defeat for José Mourinho in his Serie A's career; indeed only two times he had lost with a margin of 4+ goals in a top-flight league match: 0-5 in Barcelona-Real Madrid (2010) and 0-4 in Chelsea-Manchester United on (2016). Ko.#UdineseRoma
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) September 4, 2022
Roma will next be in action against Eastern European outfit Ludogorets in the Europa League on Thursday, and it is safe to say that Mourinho will be hoping that the shock loss to Udinese on Sunday was merely just a bad day at the office and not the sign of something more troubling.
