Four Things We Learned: Giallorossi hit new gear with key Milan win

Five straight wins

Roma secured their fifth consecutive victory in all competitions with a determined win over AC Milan at the San Siro. Although they were made to fight hard for the win and didn't produce the most aesthetically pleasing performance, the character and spirit showed by the Giallorossi pleased Eusebio Di Francesco to no end.

Importantly, it also propelled the away side to their third straight away league win over the Rossoneri, while silencing some of the critics who believed Roma would struggle against the big teams.

"It was a great performance, mentally too – it was vital that we stayed in the game and maintained our balance. We could have done better at some points, but we did well to put our foot on the gas at the right time and then hold onto the ball," Di Francesco asserted.

"Before today, people said that we only won the easy games. The team is gelling and I can see improvement in general, but today the side showed that they’re good enough."

Defensive structure holds firm once more

Key to Roma making life as difficult as possible for Vincenzo's Montella's men was the man-marking scheme Roma deployed when Milan were looking to pass out from the back. Roma's five most advanced players had a crucial role to play in this scheme, and generally did so with great effectiveness.

The front three would maintain access to the Milan back trio, as they were then duly accompanied by Radja Nainggolan marking the dropping movement of Lucas Biglia and Kevin Strootman tracking the energetic Franck Kessie. This marking scheme, in combination with their well-directed pressing and intensity, subsequently saw the home side regularly rushed into low percentage forward hoofs that allowed Roma to regain possession easier.

Composure in the build-up

With Milan defending with two in their first line, Roma successfully bypassed this setup with efficiency by creating a four-on-two numerical superiority. Daniele De Rossi would customarily drop deep to support Kostas Manolas and Federico Fazio, but the way Aleksandar Kolarov would often drop back in the left half space and form a three-man-chain was especially crucial as it allowed Manolas to push wider on the right and give the Milan duo a greater distance to cover.

Moreover, this then left huge spaces either side of Milan forwards Andre Silva and Nikola Kalinic for Kolarov and Manolas to dribble forward into and look to provoke a Milan midfielder out of slot into pressing them.

Switching to full-backs vital

With Milan defending in what was ostensibly a 3-5-2 formation, Roma made great use of wide areas to find vacant spaces. The most influential method they used to do so came by overloading one side of the field, which would draw the opposition defensive strategy across before then switching the ball to the opposite flank to either Kolarov or Bruno Peres.

The dynamic fullbacks then had oceans of space to charge into and use their speed and one-on-one dribbling qualities to wreak havoc.