Four Things We Learned: Critical win secured despite difficulties

The important thing was to get the win

Roma's workmanlike 1-0 victory over a defiant Cagliari in Sardinia saw them edge one step closer to a coveted Champions League qualification spot for next season.

Although the win wasn't pretty against the relegation-battling outfit, Cengiz Under's early strike was enough to deliver all three points and impressively see Roma remain unbeaten in 10 consecutive away matches.

Taking into consideration the fact Roma players were battling fatigue - as they've played 11 games in the last month and a bit - and the fact Kostas Manolas got injured in the warm-up, winning by any means necessary was all that mattered.

"We won ugly - a lot of teams struggle here against Cagliari. In terms of motivation and how ruthless they were, it was a great performance from the team," Eusebio Di Francesco said afterwards.

"I knew we wouldn’t be perfect tonight – lots of my players were on the edge in terms of fitness."

Cengiz's masterful finish

Cengiz Under's 15th minute strike was a thing of beauty and unquestionably a goal worthy of being the matchwinner. Receiving the ball from Edin Dzeko, it appeared unlikely Cengiz was in any sort of position to score, especially when his first two touches gave Cagliari midfielder, Simone Padoin, time to join his teammate, Charalampos Lykogiannis, to double team the Turkish international.

But Cengiz who remained composed in spite of the pressure, knew what he was doing, recognising a tiny opening between the pair that he could exploit to score.

And that's precisely what he did, as he impeccably placed his left footed finish into the bottom left corner with the utmost finesse and accuracy.

Roma find space out wide vs. narrow Cagliari block

With the home side defending in a horizontally compact 4-3-3 shape when Roma built out from the back, the Giallorossi made use of the vacant spaces available out wide (especially on the right) to progress their attacks.

Seeing as Cagliari's front three were usually oriented towards Roma's two centre backs and Daniele De Rossi, plus two of their three central mids marked Radja Nainggolan and Maxime Gonalons, Roma's central positioning drew the home side in effectively.

As shown in the image below, this created a large amount of space for Bruno Peres to utilise out wide, where he could charge into and gain vital territory for the Wolves.

Strategic backpasses draw foes forward

Knowing the Rossoblu would press onto Roma's three chain of Elio Capradossi, De Rossi and Federico Fazio when they passed out from defence, Roma would strategically pass the ball backwards, often all the way back to goalkeeper Alisson, to provoke their pressing line to move up. This consequently widened the distance between the home side's first pressing line and their midfield line.

Alisson would then hit an astute long ball forward, leaving Roma in an ideal numerical and positional superiority to win the second ball against the now disconnected opposition structure.