AS Roma – Internazionale: Gasperini Cannot Run From His Curse (0-1)

Gian Piero Gasperini may have helped revitalise Italian football over the course of a decade, but the result against one of his former employers remains the same. AS Roma may have controlled the ball, but Internazionale exploited their opponent through some tried-and-tested methods.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

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Gasperini’s coaching career will not be remembered for his 89 days in charge of Inter back in 2011, yet his stint at the San Siro echoes whenever he fails to break through his hoodoo.

No matter what reiteration of Atalanta he was able to produce, Gasperini had not registered a victory over Inter since 2018. The formidable striker work of Lautaro, plus the back-to-goal big man, can be attributed to consistent success against the very strict defensive plan. Unfortunately for Roma, they have faced their own curse when Inter have visited: having lost their last four games and with no victory at the Stadio Olimpico since 2016 against their opponent.

Roma and Inter went into this game occupying the top four places. Gasperini has this Roma team playing as you would expect: higher up the field through ultra-wide buildup and with an aggressive man-to-man press. Inter are also on a new path under Cristian Chivu, but their blueprint is more about the minute details than wholesale changes from the Simone Inzaghi era. The events of the last six months may have lowered expectations for Inter, but this is a squad and a setup that can still easily challenge for the Scudetto. 

Gasperini made three changes from the team that defeated Fiorentina before the international break. Paulo Dybala made his second start of the season, in place of Artem Dovbyk. Lorenzo Pellegrini was also reintroduced in the attack ahead of Tommaso Baldanzi, with Matías Soulé completing the attack. The final change was Konstantinos Tsimikas being replaced by Mario Hermoso, a move that saw Zeki Çelik pushed ahead into the wing-back spot.

Chivu made just two changes from the team that beat Cremonese. Francesco Acerbi returned to the central center-back spot, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu also came back into the midfield, in place of Stefan de Brij and Davide Frattesi. Marcus Thuram was still out, so fellow Frenchman Ange-Yoan Bonny kept his place.

A lesson not learnt

The trouble that Gasperini has faced against Inter is that their striker duo has constantly created tensions against his man-marking approach. Whether it is pre-determined moves off the target man to release the wing-backs or Lautaro Martínez floating in the midfield line for shorter circulation, Inter can cause problems. Of course, strict man-marking teams can cause Inter issues, but the difference with Gasperini is that his 3-4-2-1/3-4-3 system leaves one of his center-midfielders to step up high onto Inter’s single pivot, and therefore one of the center-backs must jump up the chain.

Against their deep buildup, Manu Koné followed Çalhanoğlu, even when the Turkish midfielder moved into the left center-back space. As a result, Gianluca Mancini and Mario Hermoso jumped onto Nicolò Barella, and Inter found the issues in the vacant space that Koné left. Issues were aggravated by the curious decisions in Gasperini’s defensive line: Angeliño was a doubt and missed out, but the choice of Wesley moving from the right wing-back position to the left side was unusual. Evan Ndicka being positioned as the right center-back was also a curious pick and proved costly five minutes in.

5^th minute: Buildup to Bonny’s goal. Barella dropped into a wide position as Dumfries moved up to pin Wesley. Hermoso was late to follow as Pellegrini turned his attention to Manuel Akanji, and the ball was played in behind towards Bonny, who beat a weak attempt at an offside trap.

As Barella passed back from an attempted transition, it was easy for Inter to create issues against the medium block. Koné was with Çalhanoğlu, and the position of Barella created an overload against Pellegrini. Because the Roma attacker had not committed to a target, Hermoso delayed his jump but still had a huge distance to cover. Regardless of the defensive arrangement, a high line with no pressure on the ball is always a dangerous game to play. Barella knocked the ball into the space, and Bonny charged through from the opposite side. Ndicka followed, but the rest of the Roma defense had put down their tools. Bonny fired past Mile Svilar and Inter secured an early lead.

A buildup not building

The early goal gave Inter more of an incentive to remain in a zonal 5-3-2 medium block, willing to drop off if needs be. The ultra-wide buildup stance was suitable for Roma to maintain possession, Wesley and Çelik pinned as Bryan Cristante and Koné pushed towards the channels to overload this area. As a result, the wide attackers of Pellegrini and Soulé enjoyed a high amount of activity in possession by also coming into this zone. However, Roma’s commitment to dropping players wide led to few players inside the block and Inter could act how they wanted to out of possession.

Attention turned to Soulé, whose dribbling caused Inter huge problems when Roma last visited the San Siro. As the Argentine collected the ball, Alessandro Bastoni was tasked with stepping outward from the defensive line to meet him. Roma counteracted with a one-two with Çelik, both being able to underlap one another to try and move past Bastoni. The problem for Roma was that Bastoni was authoritative when he jumped and controlled the duels, so he stopped Soulé from turning inward, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan dropped back in support. When the ball behind Bastoni was attempted, Francesco Acerbi was able to mop up and the Roman attacks broke down.

16^th minute: Roma buildup problems. The ultra-wide buildup may have given Roma security when circulating around Inter’s 5-3-2 defensive block, but the lack of players inside the block meant that Inter could step out easily. A one-two was attempted down the right side, but an overhit pass saw Acerbi recover the ball as the away side maintained their defensive overload.

In circulation, Roma was able to move the ball from side to side in a comfortable fashion but produced zero threat. Paulo Dybala dropped to interact with possession, but Roma had no mechanics to return the ball to a dangerous position. Even when the direct vertical pass to the wide center-back/center-midfielder became available, Gasperini’s team was playing too low a tempo to catch an Inter team on one side. They could focus on defending the center of the field, and the wide center-back jumps had the coverage that Roma lacked earlier in the game.

Problems for Roma increased for two different reasons. The first was that they could not engineer attacks earlier, as Inter triggered their man-to-man pressures with a lot more effect. On the left side, Bastoni and Federico Dimarco were effective in switching their targets as the pass went backwards, capitalizing on Ndicka, who looked uncomfortable on that side. Thirteen minutes in and Bastoni dispossessed Ndicka and squared back to Mkhitaryan in the box, but the Armenian’s shot was poor against his former team. If Roma had utilized Mile Svilar by this point, they could still force issues on the opposite side. Barella jumped onto Mancini, comfort in the knowledge that no third man run would come from Koné, Cristante or one of the other center-backs in this situation. If the ball reached the halfway line, then Acerbi and Akanji were more comfortable in dueling situations than Dybala.

24^th minute: The high man-to-man press from Inter was triggered. Mkhitaryan jumped onto Svilar to stop the pass going back to the right, so Barella moved onto Mancini with confidence that he would be the realistic option in the defensive third. Mancini still had time to make a long ball forward, but Acerbi stopped the attack from forming with a foul. Roma may have gained territory, but the lack of clean exits meant they could not change the situation of their buildup problems.

The second issue was that Roma looked vulnerable when up against Inter’s transitions or semi-transitions. In a number of situations, the ball broke through to an Inter player behind the defensive line, which occurred more on the left side of their attack as Çelik was eager to support Soulé down the channel. Sometimes, Roma made it even easier for Inter with some loose exchanges amongst the double pivot. Twenty-seven minutes in was a prime example when Pellegrini dropped inward, and the pass to Cristante was intercepted by Martínez. Barella freely passed to Bonny, and Inter quickly had support inside the Roma block, although Çalhanoğlu’s attempt was too ambitious.

It was not just central turnovers that Inter could spark attacks from, but also through some classic Inter patterns in these kinds of games: the two strikers linking before wing-backs join the attack, or the wing-backs themselves joining in the direct play for space to be created for his partner on the opposite side. Down the left, Dimarco had good support in Bastoni and Mkhitaryan moving ahead of the wing-back, whilst Dumfries made his aggressive runs when the ball was turned over in the defensive third, and Inter launched a counter from the same channel. Their shot productivity may have been quiet, but Chivu’s team could have easily buried the game through several different scenarios.

A flurry not followed

The start of the second period nearly saw Inter double their lead, before sparking Roma’s best phases. After a long period of circulation, Pellegrini was found between the lines after an Inter throw-in was dispossessed, only for a loose pass to tee up Bastoni. His long ball glided over Wesley and Hermoso, onto Dumfries’ run, only for his powerful shot to be saved by the goalkeeper.

Inter appeared to have kept the game state as expected, but Roma found some momentum before the hour mark as Koné started to move up the chain with a lot more frequency. Following his pass forward, his third man run was accessible as Inter where not as strict in following the inside runner as they were in pressing outward onto the wide player. This became profitable in two situations: the first came when Roma progressed down the left side and Wesley was free to pass to Koné, behind Akanji, who had jumped outward onto Pellegrini. Koné turned back around, but Dybala’s excellent double movement moved him past Acerbi and Koné met the forward with a slide rule pass into the halfspace. On his stronger left foot, the angle was right for Dybala, but Yann Sommer denied him from close range.

The second came after Roma’s counterpressure forced Inter onto the left, and a Dimarco pass was intercepted by Cristante. Koné shifted the ball to Soulé, who returned the favor, before he gave it to Dybala once more. His dribble into the box was fortunate to fall to Çelik, only for Acerbi to block the attempted shot from close range. During this period, Roma kept momentum through a number of dead-ball scenarios. Hermoso was denied by Sommer when he appeared free at the back post. However, it was the subsequent corner from Çelik’s attempt that produced the best chance of an equalizer. Moments earlier, Dovbyk was introduced for Pellegrini, and the Ukrainian moved into a golden position as Soulé headed Dybala’s corner back into the danger zone. With Sommer out of the picture, Dovbyk had to produce a headed attempt with the ball slightly behind him, but it was still an incredible opportunity for Roma that was missed.

From this point onwards, Roma’s attack fizzled as Inter sought to grind the game down further. The first two changes were similar in positions, although Davide Frattesi for Çalhanoğlu saw Barella move into the pivot position. Shortly after, Chivu left a front two of Francesco Pio Esposito and Frattesi, as Petar Sučić replaced Bonny. Despite Inter now resting major offensive profiles, they still relieved pressure by capitalizing on an open Roma defense on the turnover.

69^th minute: Inter transition on the turnover. As Soulé was stopped from turning by Bastoni, Mkhitaryan was able to recover the ball from Bastoni’s tackle. Barella was free to pass to who had both Sučić available laterally or direct towards Esposito. He chose the latter, and as the Italian span towards the channel, he was fouled by young substitute Jan Ziółkowski, who would be booked for his challenge.

Gasperini attempted to find solutions with some ambitious substitutions down the left side. Cristante was pushed to the left center-back role in the last fifteen minutes, as Baldanzi replaced Hermoso and Leon Bailey came on for Dybala. Bailey may have produced some positive touches and encouraged some moves from Wesley to move the ball inside on his stronger right foot. However, it’s another profile that is more comfortable being a natural winger than an inside forward in a 3-4-2-1 formation.

The closest to a goal in the closing minutes of the game came when the Roma defense failed to deal with a long boot from Sommer. Frattesi dribbled and made the cutback towards the penalty area, which found the run from Mkhitaryan, but his shot found the post instead. Six wins on the bounce for Inter, as they levelled points with Napoli and Roma at the top of the Serie A table.

Takeaways

Roma may have had their chances, just before the hour, but we are no closer to Gasperini breaking his Inter curse. The expected goals may paint a different picture; nevertheless, Inter should have had this game wrapped up against a Roma team that was so open when they lost possession. Roma has had an impressive start, but this is a coach not willing to compromise on his methods. The profiles behind the striker are more suited to attacking from wide avenues, whilst the wing-backs lack the traditional physicality that Gasperini often likes. However, despite Milan and Napoli being played before December, the schedule does favor a good run for Roma.

A good win and run of form continues for Chivu, who faced significant pressure to steady the ship. In the summer, Chivu spoke of adding to the setup, rather than stripping off its parts. Bonny and Sučić have picked up minutes, but other additions (Luis Henrique and Andy Diouf) have featured very little so far. If the squad is to go through a redemption, it’s impressive work from Chivu to get this team believing in itself again.

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