Forget huddles, Enzo tensions and silly quotes: one crazy team decision cost Rosenior his job and Chelsea their season
One decision led to Rosenior's exit and Chelsea's struggles this season.
Ricardo Faty reflects on his career, highlighting his time at Roma and experiences in lower divisions of Italian football. He made 15 appearances for Roma and contributed to their 2006/07 Coppa Italia victory.
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Ricardo Faty looks back on his career, Roma spell and lower divisions of Italian football
It was November 24, 2005, and Ricardo Fatyās life was about to change forever. Three years after leaving the Parisian suburbs for Strasbourg, Faty was finally making his mark at the professional level, stealing the show in a 1-1 draw against Roma in the UEFA Cup.
Thatās why Roma decided to sign him in the summer following Strasbourgās relegation, with Faty making 15 appearances and helping them win their first trophy in six years ā the 2006/07 Coppa Italia ā but nevertheless unable to beat out the likes of Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perotta, and David Pizarro for a starting spot.
Desperate for regular minutes, Faty joined Bayer Leverkusen on a two-year loan, making just three appearances during his time in Germany, before returning to France and joining Nantes.
After helping Nantes achieve promotion, Faty then suffered relegation before returning to Roma playing 11 times across the 2009/10 season, before starting a new adventure with Greek outfit Aris Salonica.
He then decided to return to Ligue 1 and join AC Ajaccio in 2012 ā the same year he switched from France to and played five times for the latterās senior national team. After a season with Belgian side Standard LiĆ©ge, Faty then played for Turkish sides Bursaspor and MKE Ankaragücü from 2015 to 2020, before heading back to and spending a brief sojourn at Serie B since Reggina.
Ricardo Faty made 15 appearances for Roma and helped the team win the 2006/07 Coppa Italia.
Faty left Roma seeking regular playing time, which he struggled to find due to competition from other players.
After Roma, Faty joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan and later returned to France to play for Nantes.
Faty began his professional career after moving from the Parisian suburbs to Strasbourg, where he first gained recognition.
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After hanging up his boots in 2023 following a swan song with French fourth-tier CāChartres Football, Faty has balanced his time between raising his three daughters in Paris, serving as a pundit for major French television outlets, watching his beloved Roma on the TV, and coaching the Greater Parisā regionās next top boys and girls at INF Clairefontaine ā the same place where he started out a quarter-century ago.
Get Italian Football News spoke to Faty about a number of topics, including:
Talk to me a little bit about your relationship with Luciano Spalletti. Obviously, he signed you for Roma, heās done quite well with teams like Napoliā¦how highly do you rate him amongst the gameās best coaches?
Faty: āFor me, heās one of the greatestā¦he was one of the best coaches from the 2010s. Itās normal that a lot of people remember JosĆ© Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, and Roberto Mancini from the 2010s, but Spalletti also had a big part in that because heās the one who brought Roma to the top again in the 2000s. Okay, maybe his time at Inter wasnāt that nice of an experience, but he brought back the Scudetto to Napoli, which is a very big achievement here in Italy. Heās a nice coach with a good sense of tactics, and a very Italian style to management, very theatrical, everything like that. Itās a huge one for me, itās one of the greatest: maybe Spalletti is underrated in the coaching world, because his name doesnāt get mentioned a lot, but heās great, and weāve always had a great relationship together.ā
While Spalletti is now coaching Juventus, Gian Piero Gasperini is looking to lead Roma back to the UEFA Champions League. What have you made of Gasperiniās time at Roma so far?
Faty: āTo be honest with you, Iām a bit confused from this season, because I was enthusiastic about the appointment. I like Gasperini; he was chosen by Claudio Ranieri, and heās a nice coach with a nice reputation. Maybe theyāve managed to win some good games, but they canāt beat the big guys. They canāt, they just canāt, and thatās the thing thatās annoying me a bit. This team is missing some things, like a world-class striker and also someone with more creativity.ā
āWe rely on Paulo Dybala, but Dybala is always injured, and his form isnāt that goodā¦maybe with a prime Dybala, we could have done much better. I have ambivalent feelings: I like what I see sometimes, and sometimes I hate what I see, so I canāt be happy.ā
Lastly, what was it like going back to Italy and enjoy a brief spell at Reggina? Did that feel like the perfect full-circle moment for you?
Faty: āI liked it, but it was a mess, because when I was in Italy, I didnāt expect this offer from Regina. They called me because they did some research and wanted an experienced player for Serie B, so they reached out to me. I thought, āOkay, for a last dance, why not? Why not try to go to Serie A with that team?ā I loved Italy, so it was really nice to go to Calabria in the south, but after a month, I got a really bad injury: I tore my adductor. I missed over 7 months, and when I came back for my second season, everything had changed.ā
āThere was a new president, a new coach, and I was considered to be a problem because I had one of the biggest salaries in the entire team, but I couldnāt leave because when you go to Italy, you need to stay for two years for the taxes and everything. I couldnāt leave, so I was stuck, and then they wanted to loan me out to Serie D, and I said, āNo, I want to stay to fight for my place here.ā But it was too late, because new players and a new coach came, and the guy who brought me left, so it was kind of difficult.ā
āBut I had a good time there, because I was nice with people, and people were nice with me. I think that they had the potential to reach Serie A, around the same time that other teams like Crotone, Salernitana, Cremonese, were reaching Serie A. I thought that Reggina could make it, but they made a lot of mistakes, and they ended up going bankrupt and are now playing in Serie D. You can see throughout my career, I wasnāt so lucky with my clubs, because a lot of them didnāt have professional management. But itās like that, it is what it is, this is the career that I decided to have.ā