Four Things We Learned: Grit and determination sees Roma through

Record-equalling away win achieved

The Giallorossi impressively registered their eleventh consecutive away win - a run that equals the Serie A record set by Inter Milan in 2006-2007 – with a gritty, hard fought 1-0 win over Torino.

Going to the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino is never easy, and Aleksandar Kolarov's superb free kick ultimately made the difference in a match where Eusebio Di Francesco was yet again delighted by his team's dogged character, despite his team not being at their best.

"We’ve achieved a huge victory at a tough place to play; the pitch here wasn’t the best either. We were sloppy with our final ball, but we managed to keep control of the game against a team that cause problems for many other opponents," he noted.

Nainggolan exploits space brilliantly

Operating in a role that was essentially a blend between that of a right winger and an attack-minded central midfielder, Radja Nainggolan demonstrated his astute capacity to exploit vacant space on countless occasions. Whether finding openings in the spaces where a No. 10 might operate (something he honed effectively last season when deployed as a trequartista) or in the right half space, Il Toro found him a very challenging opponent to nullify.

The graphic below gives a fine example of his aptitude in the regard. Here, upon recognising Lorenzo Pellegrini purposefully pull his marker away from the centre with an intelligent lateral run, Nainggolan smartly drops deep from his initial right-wing post to receive freely. He then subsequently turns unopposed and begins his charge at the opposition backline, where his powerful running, dribbling and passing are put to great use in advanced areas.

De Rossi's positioning

Seeing as Daniele De Rossi was man-marked for the vast majority of the contest in his team's first phase of build-up, the way De Rossi and his teammates overcame this proved very important towards them being able to pass out from the back cleanly.

De Rossi did so by persistently drifting into the left half space, thus allowing him to create a numerical and positional superiority with Hector Moreno and Kolarov to combine, manipulate their adversaries' positioning and vitally move upfield smoothly.

High press success

Another key element of their crucial win came in the form of Di Francesco's successful high press, which worked wonders in stunting Sinisa Mihajlovic's side's possession-building strategy. Especially effective in the opening stanza, Roma's aggressive man orientations towards their opponent ensured they were able to compress the pitch and often pen Torino back due to them struggling to find an unmarked colleague.

This inherently forced the home side into making rushed, low percentage decisions on the ball, as the Giallorossi's cutting off of passing lanes, in combination with the speed and timing of their pressing, made life very challenging for Torino in this regard.