AS Roma – Napoli: The Sun Rises For The Champions? (0-1)

Three defeats in six away games, the Champions needed a result away to a fellow challenger to send a message. It was not pretty in Rome, but that is the fashion that Antonio Conte does not mind abiding by, as long as he is the victor.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

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Since Fabio Capello brought the Scudetto back to the capital back in 2001, no club has flown closer to the sun than Roma. 

Nine second-placed finishes, they could not even get over the line when they recorded eighty-seven points. After several seasons away from title talk, Gian Piero Gasperini has got this team back in the conversation through strong out-of-possession principles that he has always upheld. However, this is a team far from finishing touches when they hold the ball, although potential dynamics are there in which Gasperini can grow. 

If Roma are to dream of such ambitions, it’ll be Napoli whose crown they would have to pinch. Due to plenty of injuries, Antonio Conte has been forced back to old rituals with most of his midfield unavailable. However, the 3-4-3 formation also came due to tactical issues, mostly from the four-midfield combination being awkward without a left-sided presence and Napoli being very uncreative on the ball. Noa Lang and David Neres in proximity of Rasmus Højlund saw Napoli profit against Atalanta Bergamo, but are they in a sustainable position to compete for the title again?

Due to suspension, Gasperini would not be present on the touchline but made three changes to the team that beat FC Midtjylland on Thursday, in the Europa League. Despite going off with an injury during that game, Manu Koné was fit enough to start as Bryan Cristante replaced Neil El Aynaoui. Mario Hermoso also replaced Daniele Ghilardi, with a very familiar back seven in place. Paulo Dybala was the attacker taken out, Evan Ferguson in his position.

There were no surprises in the Napoli team as Conte kept to the same squad that started against Qarabağ FK in the Champions League. Leonardo Spinazzola was back on the bench for the first time since the draw to Como, whilst Romelu Lukaku is back training with the team, but is still not fit enough to feature.

Balanced affairs favor Conte

Falling into more direct play favored one of these teams more than the other. The presence of matching blocks revealed limitations in both Roma and Napoli to play through the lines. The heavy use of man-to-man pressure saw Napoli utilize Vanja Milinković-Savić between the center-backs, whereas Roma had both Bryan Cristante and Manu Koné dropping to facilitate the long ball. Roma could pull both Scott McTominay and Stansilav Lobotka out of the 5-4-1/3-4-3 pressure, but even with both center-midfielders committed high off the ball, Roma had no routes that could comfortably play through the lines.

As a result, the game was set at a strange rhythm. The ball retention in Napoli’s front three saw mistakes aplenty, but despite the inconsistencies, it was them who were the more reliable in generating entries into the final third. Eight minutes in, Evan Ndicka won the aerial duel but headed straight to David Neres, and Noa Lang charged through inside of Gianluca Mancini. His ball went over the defense and Mile Svilar just beat Lang to the race, but Rasmus Højlund did not put enough power on his chance to lob the goalkeeper a few meters out from the semi-circle. Spaces were also evident when the ball broke down Roma’s left side: Neres was supported by either Sam Beukema on the overlap or Giovanni Di Lorenzo already behind Wesley to run.

Seventeen minutes in, Neres came onto the opposite side to get onto a chipped channel pass by Mathías Olivera. His cross found Di Lorenzo at the back post, but the shot could only hit the side netting. It was these lateral runs that saw Napoli produce more play through the lines, especially just in front of the center-backs. Conte’s Napoli have constantly attempted positional rotations without much fluency in the connections, but when the opponent comes out of their block, Napoli can be more profitable. In the center, McTominay and Lobotka moved onto different lines as the Slovakian dropped. McTominay can move onto different sides of the pitch, or the wing-backs could move into inverted positions with the wingers also dropping. As a result, the Roma wing-back would follow Lang or Neres, and Mancini or Hermoso had to drop to cover, which left spaces in the Roma block with no center-back support.

26^th minute: More connection through the lines from Napoli, against the Roma block. As Lobotka showed excellent ball retention under pressure, the positions of the wing-backs left Roma wingers in awkward zonal spots. Soulé could not follow Olivera, and Pellegrini was between jumping Beukema and using his cover shadow on Di Lorenzo. With Neres dropping, Hermoso wanted to cover the zone that Højlund could sprint into. As a result, Di Lorenzo made himself free with an inside run, and the passing lane opened.

Alternatively, the responsibilities of Soulé and Pellegrini to defend narrow positions meant that Neres and Lang had space out wide when they dropped. However, this does not mean that Napoli where flourishing with creativity or even having a strong foothold on the game. Napoli were the better in circulating possession, but Roma had phases too, with the number of wide players they commit to the channels. Just before the half-hour mark, Pellegrini was given an open lane to sprint into the box from the left touchline, but an excellent intervention from Amir Rrahmani stopped Ferguson from getting a shot at close range.

Such was the commitment of Roma players in the box that Mancini, the right center-back, would end up in the center of the area as another aerial target. However, Roma’s rest defense has been scorned this season and would be once again. After a misplaced Koné pass saw him get tackled by Rrahmani, the ball broke to Neres, already behind Hermoso and separated from Wesley. As Højlund ran towards the touchline, Cristante was isolated with Neres in a footrace, which definitely saw the Brazilian have the advantage. Højlund put Neres through and punished Roma for their poor arrangements.

34^th minute: Buildup to Napoli’s goal. As the ball is turned over, Napoli easily entered a two-versus-two with Ndicka gifting Højlund plenty of space and Cristante becoming isolated with Neres in a central position.

Roma never finds a rhythm

This may have been a game that exchanged spells, but Roma was not getting any access close to Napoli’s goal. At half-time, Gasperini tried to change that with a different profile in the attack, Ferguson was replaced by Tommaso Baldanzi, who looks to drop more and make quite aggressive runs, not quite a false nine but a ten who could push into striker positions.

In theory, the presence of a more dynamic mover behind Lobotka/McTominay should open the access for Roma, but this would not be the case. Despite Roma still committing Cristante and Koné deep, Napoli could still sit in their man-to-man high block, and Roma would not gain the territory needed for much of the second period as the same problems grew for them. Despite the far-sided Napoli players having to drop to cover the zone, Roma could not circulate the ball from side to side quick enough in order to make use of the space. When it came to distributing the ball out of the channels, Roma made plenty of mistakes with medium/longer passes being swept up by the opposition defense or away from the crowd entirely.

51^st minute: Buildup problems for Roma. With McTominay and Lobotka committed, Koné got the ball out of the pressure zone, and Hermoso opened his body upon touching possession. Pellegrini and Baldanzi switched runs, but Hermoso could not cleanly pass as the distance grew and Neres approached from an outward position. The area in which the Spaniard could distribute grew smaller and Buongiorno picked up the very loose pass.

Roma tried to change the dynamics again. Just after the hour mark, Soulé was replaced by Paulo Dybala and El Aynaoui came on for Cristante. It was not until the final twenty minutes that Roma started to get the territory, and Napoli’s 5-4-1 defensive formation was keener to get into its low block. With this in mind, Lang was replaced by Matteo Politano and the Italian winger was placed on the right side, one of Conte’s most disciplined attackers in retreating into the defensive position. Roma would still try to stretch the Napoli defense towards the channel, for Baldanzi to be in more space to run in the halfspaces, yet the passes into him continued to skew wide of their target.

With this dynamic at play, Roma constantly moved into the same problems that we have seen throughout the campaign. Too many players would be positioned behind the ball, as El Aynaoui and Koné were deep. The wide attackers would also drop outward, so yet another player would be taken away from infiltrating the opposition block. This is quite an easy situation for the opponent to defend, as the Napoli midfield could jump outward without being concerned for a target being moved in the space behind them.

78^th minute: Buildup issues for Roma. As Dybala is encouraged to pass backwards to Mancini, Roma already has eighty players outside of the Napoli defensive block, and Roma is easily encouraged to take the ball from one side to the other. The ball might be protected, but Roma has a slow tempo when entering the final third with very little box presence to call upon.

Roma would only breach the central pocket on two occasions. The first came when Pellegrini moved laterally in Politano’s blind side, and Beukema did not follow the run, whilst Rrahmani was pinned by Baldanzi. This would only follow a long shot that flew over the crossbar. The second came late in the game, where a creative flick from Dybala beat Rrahmani and Baldanzi got goal side of Beukema. A low shot was expertly saved by Milinković-Savić, but Roma’s shots came few and far between. Just four shots in the entire second half, whilst creating just 0.62 in Expected Goals in total. A poor display from Roma.

Takeaways

This game was the litmus test of where we are with this Roma team. Of course, this is a team that is well within the race, but three defeats coming to fellow sprinters Milan, Inter and Napoli (all by the same 1-0 score line) show that Roma is not comfortable competing against the teams around them. A callback to their time under Paulo Fonseca, perhaps? Gasperini needs to fix some issues.

The result is a big one for Napoli, who are yet to break into consistent form this season. The story of Conte’s time at Napoli is that he has never settled on one shape, nor created a structure that is close to perfection, but the 3-4-3 system (without a winger dropping into the defensive line) is clearly an organization in which he is more comfortable coaching. Yet this is a place where narratives change rapidly, Luciano Spalletti’s return to Naples with Juventus will be one that massively swings the conversation again.

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