nLer o-o Romu: GusperInI wus

exposed once uguIn

September 17, 2011

The starting line-ups
Two sides lacking conIidence contested a Iairly tame 0-0 draw in Milan.
Gian Piero Gasperini reverted to a three-man deIence, but went with 3-4-1-2, as expected, rather
than his Iavoured 3-4-3. Joel Obi came in on the leIt, and Wesley Sneijder was the number ten.
Luis Enrique stuck with his preIerred 4-3-3, but made a surprise decision to start two midIielders
at Iull-back Rodrigo Taddei on the leIt, Simone Perrotta on the right.
Roma generally dominated possession but lacked ideas in the Iinal third, whilst Inter had decent
moments but had no cohesion upIront. The game Iitted the 0-0 scoreline.
Formations and theory
The most interesting thing about this game was pre-match consideration oI how the sides would
play. Gasperini`s 3-4-3 was terrible at Palermo, and on the basis oI that, another game with the
same Iormation would have been Ioolish you can`t play the same way and expect diIIerent
results immediately. With Sneijder impressive when he came on against Palermo, moving into a
deep, central position rather than staying in his wide-leIt starting role plus Diego Forlan not
comIortable out wide it made sense to switch to 3-4-1-2.
That was only on the basis oI last week`s display, though. It changes completely when you
consider the way Roma were playing with two players completely out oI position at Iull-back.
Leave them Iree, and they`re comIortable no major deIensive work, happy to move Iorward and
inIluence the game in possession. Occupy them with a tricky opponent, and they would have
looked extremely uncomIortable and Ior that reason, it may have been worth Gasperini sticking
with the 3-4-3, putting Sneijder up against Perrotta and Forlan against Taddei. He would have
been cruciIied had it Iailed Ior being wedded to a system which doesn`t suit his players, but it was
arguably the right way to go considering the extremely unusual situation at Iull-back.
attles
In the end, Gasperini went 3-4-1-2. The Roma Iull-backs were Iree to push on up the pitch, and in
a move borrowed Irom his old club Barcelona, Enrique told Daniele De Rossi to drop into the
back, turning Roma into a back three, and a 3-4-3. David Pizarro and Sneijder broadly picked up
each other in the middle (which did more harm than good to the game as a spectacle) whilst Javier
Zanetti nulliIied Miralem Pjanic.
Roma had more oI the ball so why were they unable to open up a deIence which has looked so
dodgy? Totti, arguably, was not the right player Ior this situation as the central Iorward. He
wanted to come deeper and deeper maybe understandable given the lack oI creativity in midIield
but Roma didn`t have the cohesion to put together the main move this system is meant to
produce: Totti coming deep and the wide players moving into goalscoring positions. In the
absence oI such an understanding, it might have been better to have played three more direct
Iorwards, take advantage oI the 3 v 3 situation in that zone, and exploit the lack oI pace in Inter`s
backline. Totti played a couple oI decent passes, but Inter were more than happy to let him come
into a zone patrolled by Esteban Cambiasso, and let Roma play in Iront oI them. A couple oI
bright moves came Irom Fabio Borini outpacing Andrea Rannochia, but there wasn`t enough oI
that.
Inter`s brightest moments came when Mauro Zarate came on Ior Diego Milito he oIten played
up against Taddei, who immediately looked uncomIortable against such a tricky opponent. Zarate
had a couple oI attempts that went narrowly wide. Gasperini`s mentality was summed up by his
late substitution Iorward Forlan oII, midIielder Muntari on. He was happy with a point. Maybe
Enrique was too his changes were incremental.
Conclusion
Was this a tactical battle? It didn`t Ieel like it. It was more like two under-pressure managers
Iocusing upon getting their new charges used to a new way oI playing. Neither tried to exploit the
particular weaknesses oI their opponent, neither looked like scoring. There is still plenty oI work
to do Ior both.