Four Things We Learned: Tammy sparks a derby rout!

AS Roma produced a scintillating display to overcome Lazio 3-0 in a fiercely contested Derby della Capitale, with the goals arriving courtesy of a Tammy Abraham brace and one from Lorenzo Pellegrini.

Getting off to the perfect start, Abraham had the ball in the back of the net within the first minute to send the Roma faithful into raptures.

Roma continued to play with intent and incision, and were again rewarded for their approach when Abraham bagged his second in the 22nd minute to double the Giallorossi's lead.

Dominant offensively and keeping Lazio's dangerous frontline quiet, Roma then capped off an incredible first half five minutes from the break when Pellegrini scored a majestic free kick.

A special derby moment indeed from the club captain on the big stage.

The second half then saw Jose Mourinho's men manage their lead competently by doing a fine job of subduing their adversaries while still offering a threat going forward in transition.

In the end, Roma concluded a brilliant evening's work with an accomplished victory over their rivals and a hard-earned clean sheet. Mourinho was rightfully delighted with his team's performance in his post-match comments.

“A great performance," he said.

"The win over Atalanta here at the Olimpico was a very solid display too, albeit with a different scoreline to tonight. But the team knew in that game exactly what they needed to do.

“Today was truly special, because it seemed like the players were able to execute everything we had planned out there on the pitch. Full credit to them.

"All the credit to them, extra credit, even, because in the second half they were playing against a side who were desperate to turn things around and playing with the sort of pride you expect to see from any team playing in the derby. But, despite that, we were always in control.

"I don’t think there is any doubt that we fully deserved the win.”

Abraham the star of the show

Leading the line with aplomb for the Giallorossi, the talented Englishman was a constant thorn in Lazio's side on his way bagging a game changing double.

Taking his tally to 23 goals for the season, the man who's scored more goals than legends Vincenzo Montella and Gabriel Batistuta in their first campaign with Roma yet again proved his class.

Instinctive with his finishing, his goals offered a testament to this, with his first highlighting his razor sharp reactions and the second his coordination to stretch out and acrobatically apply his finish despite being at full speed and unbalanced.

His success also owed much to his clever movement, for he picked his moments when to drop deep to receive between the lines or when to run in behind.

Alert to gaps both in front of and behind the defensive line, Abraham was quick to pounce - just like he did for his second. Timing and directing his movement smartly, opponents were frequently caught out by his aptitude here.

Giving Roma such a fantastic focal point, the way he held the ball up with his back to goal, pinned opponents to free up colleagues and offered a vital aerial option ensured he brought others into play.

A major physical presence, who also notably linked play brilliantly with crisp lay-offs to forward facing teammates and through neat headers, this duly enhanced his threat.

Meanwhile, on the defensive end, his closing down of foes, tenacity and energy were valuable for Roma in terms of stifling Lazio, which Mourinho praised him for afterwards.

“I demand a lot of Tammy because I know his potential," he said.

"Today is what Tammy is capable of and he needs to keep playing like this. I don’t mean the goals, because you can score one day and miss another, but he needs to have the attitude he showed today in every game.”

By the numbers, his five touches inside the box, three shots, two progressive runs, one key pass, three won headers and four loose ball regains aptly accentuated his all-round contribution.

Immobile immobilised

The way Roma's backlined contained Lazio's elite marksman in Ciro Immobile, who'd already netted 26 times this crusade, warranted hefty applause.

Up against Roma's disciplined low block and usually outnumbered two or three to one, the Italian international found little joy against Gianluca Mancini, Roger Ibanez and especially in battles vs. the physical and athletic Chris Smalling.

Hardly giving him any freedom to operate in, his deadly runs in behind and into the area were tracked diligently. Clearly instructed to stay closeby, the compact Roma rearguard were alert to his movement, rarely allowing him to get any real separation.

In addition, due to Roma's backline being quite deep, the space he had was minimised to use his speed to attack balls over the top.

Immobile encountered the same struggles when he came towards the ball to connect play, for a Roma stopper would get touchtight and follow him deep. In doing so, Immobile barely had a chance to take a clean first touch or turn and face, which compounded issues for him.

The statistics back up his difficult night at the office, with him only having one shot on target, registering an XG of just 0.20 (well down on his average of 0.68) and managing a measly two touches inside the area (far below his 4.85 average).

Pressing bears fruit

Facing off against a Lazio team that loves building out from the back, Mourinho devised a shrewd plan to limit the success of Maurizio Sarri's troops.

To start with, Roma's first line of pressure in Abraham and Pellegrini would typically be oriented towards the two Lazio central defenders, with a remit to try and use their cover shadow to block the lanes to the fullbacks or shift across if the ball went wide.

The Roma midfield of Sergio Oliveira, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Bryan Cristante would then keep tabs on their opposing midfield trio in Luis Alberto, Lucas Leiva and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Eager to cut the supply line to these dangerous players and limit their creative influence, this man coverage in the heart of the pitch worked wonders by ushering the play into less damaging wider areas.

Roma's wingbacks, Rick Karsdorp and Nicola Zalewski, then predominantly marked Felipe Anderson and Pedro, but would sometimes step up to harry the fullbacks when supporting the initial press.

That left the central defenders to handle Immobile, any runners from midfield or if the wingers ventured infield depending on the situation.

Implementing their pressing mechanics proficiently and nullifying some of their opponents' key threats, it was also promising to note what a wonderful chance creation weapon this aspect of their game was.

As the image below of Lazio’s ball losses shows, Roma manufactured four shots from turnovers to underline their aptitude in this regard during this clash.

Producing the goods on both sides of the ball, there's no doubting this triumph will live long in the memory of the plethora of diehard Roma supporters across the world.

Follow Edward Stratmann on Twitter: @EdwardStratmann