Roma shook off their administrative blunder from last week and registered their first point of the new Serie A campaign after holding Juventus to a 2-2 draw at home.
Lineups and Formations
Paulo Fonseca was forced to use Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a false 9 in the opening game against Hellas Verona but now that Edin Dzeko’s future has been settled for now, the Bosnian spearheaded the attack. Fonseca went for a 3-4-2-1 formation with a three man defense boasting Gianluca Mancini, Roger Ibanez, and Marash Kumbulla.
Davide Santon and Leonardo Spinazzola played as advanced full backs with Jordan Veretout and Lorenzo Pelligrini playing in the double pivot. Pedro and Mkhitaryan paired up in an attacking midfield zone in order to stick close to Dzeko and provide the Bosnian with sufficient support.
Andrea Pirlo decided to tweak things a little and after using the 3-4-1-2 formation during the 3-0 win over Sampdoria, reverted to a flat 4-4-2. To counter a fairly attacking Roma side, Juan Cuadrado and Danilo were deployed in a conservative full back role to provide extra cover to the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci.
Aaron Ramsey, who played as a holding midfielder in Juventus’ opening game of the season, was fielded as more of a winger while young Swede Dejan Kulusevski was positioned down the right flank. Weston McKennie was once again paired with Adrien Rabiot with Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata pairing up in front.
Roma’s Approach
Now that he has the right defenders, Paulo Fonseca has been able to finally implement his philosophy of playing from the back. All three defenders did a great job during the first half when it came to building from the back.
Ibanez, Mancini, and Kumbulla are all ball playing defenders and, against Juventus, they displayed a lot of composure to connect with the likes of Veretout and Pellegrini. Kumbulla in particular, had formed a sort of telepathic connection with Spinazzola which bodes well for the future. At times, the young Albanian had to move wider to get more involved with the early build-up play and that allowed the likes of Spinazzola, Veretout and even Pedro enough time to look for space.
Similarly, the likes of Pedro and Mkhitaryan were able to enjoy more creative freedom. The first half was a great display of a team wanting to play positive football and while they might not be there yet, it is clear to see that Fonseca wants his team to play possession-based football while also ensuring the having the lion’s share of the ball is complimented by more penetration inside the opposition territory.
Here you can see Spinazzola taking on Danilo with Kulusevski breathing down his neck. The full back had enough options next to him with Mkhitaryan, Pedro and Dzeko already moving into small pockets of space to give their teammate multiple options.
Again, there is always someone looking to fill in the hole every time a Roma defender has the ball. You can already see Kumbulla moving out wide in order to give Ibanez an option.
As you can see here, every time Juventus tried building from the back, there were always Roma shirts closing them down. However, having Danilo and Cuadrado positioned deeper than usual allowed the reigning champions enough width to get out of such situations.
There were three goals scored in the first half and while both teams’ opening goals were from spot-kicks, Veretout’s second one is a perfect example of how counterattacking can be deadly if done with precision.
Here a Juventus free-kick finds its way back to Kulusevski. However, as the ball flies towards a Roma defender, you can see three Roma players already getting in position for a counter-attacking move.
Once the ball is passed out from the midfield, three Roma forwards move simultaneously towards the Juve goal. Danilo is caught out of position which allows Mkhitaryan to gain a few extra yards before passing the ball to Veretout who already has a few yards on Cuadrado. The Armenian simply passes the ball to the midfielder who takes on touch before putting the ball out of Szczezny’s reach.
It does appear that Pirlo isn’t certain of his best starting XI or the formation. But credit where’s due. The former Italy international went for a conservative formation knowing that Roma would look to attack. And in order to neutralize the creative influence of the likes of Pedro, Mkhitaryan, and the physical presence of Dzeko, the likes of Rabiot and McKennie were seen dropping deeper in their own half and help out the defense.
Moreover, with the likes of Danilo and Cuadrado positioned closer to Chiellini and Bonucci, it was clear that Juventus wanted to defend in numbers against a Roma side that had a lot of pace on the break.
But as we showed in the visuals, Juventus’ lack of pace and switching towards a more expansive 3-2-4-1 formation when attacking exposed them for the second goal.
Even during the second half, Juventus were struggling with Roma’s pace from the right flank. The hosts could have won this game had the following counterattack worked out:
Here you can see Mkhitaryan is set through by Dzeko. The Armenian has a lot of space to venture further up field.
By the time he’s closer to the penalty area, Juventus have enough numbers in. however, the likes of Bonucci and Chiellini are caught ball-watching and Mkhitaryan takes one more touch before passing the ball to his captain who wins the physical battle with Cuardrado before taking a couple of touches and firing agonizingly wide.
Ronaldo eventually equalized through a trademark header but the goal could have been stopped had Roma managed to make their numerical advantage count.
As Danilo looks to cross the ball, you can see that none of the Roma defenders are alert to Ronaldo’s presence.
By the time Ibanez realizes the situation, it is already too late and Ronaldo just has to “stay up” in the air and score his second of the night.
Conclusions
Roma
It is evident that Paulo Fonseca is quietly going about his business in training, coaching his charges to become more composed at the back while also making his defenders feel more comfortable with the ball at their feet. The Roma defenders were fairly solid at the back and also did their part when it came to taking the game to the Serie A champions.
Ibanez had an excellent game apart from that one moment where his concentration let him down and cost his team two valuable points.
Mkhitaryan can definitely thrive in his role as an attacking midfielder, especially when he’s playing alongside Pedro. The two men played off one another and are going to have an even better chemistry the more they play together.
Spinazzola was a live wire, particularly in the first half. The wing-back role suits him perfectly and really brings out his best attacking qualities.
While they did give a good account of themselves against a very difficult opposition, Roma players need to improve their pressing since that would help them further dominate games. Their possession style game allows them to control proceedings and, with high pressing, they might be able to enjoy more dominance on the field.
Juventus
Andrea Pirlo is still testing things out but it is abundantly clear that Juventus do have some issues in defense. While Juan Cuadrado is great going forward, the Colombian’s inability to show more awareness when it comes to defending is a real problem.
Danilo’s form seems to be unlike the one that we witnessed last season with the Brazilian being caught out of position and beaten for pace quite a lot.
Similarly, Juventus’ defensive pairing of Chiellini and Bonucci does seem to be overworked with the veterans not as solid as they have been for a good part of 10 years. They did struggle quite a bit and perhaps it is time to bank more on young defenders such as Merih Demiral and Matthijs de Ligt.
The team’s attacking play isn’t as smooth and quick as it should be and this is something that is really going to affect them when they come up against teams that defend in numbers and sit deep.
Pirlo’s Juventus was always going to look a little different from the Old Lady of yesteryears but there are definitely a lot of glaring issues that need to be addressed. Weston McKennie has already been thrown in the deep end and while the young American is full of enthusiasm, he is going to take his time to fill the void left by Blaise Matuidi.
Nonetheless, Roma are going to be fairly happy with the result even though they could have scored three more had Dzeko (twice) and Mkhitaryan been more clinical in the final third. Fonseca knows exactly how he wants his team to play and it appears that he has finally got himself the right players who can run with his philosophy on the field.