Four Things We Learned: New tactical structure survives Atletico stress test

Roma recorded a valuable 0-0 draw against Atletico Madrid as the Champions League got underway on Tuesday night.

Our columnist looks at four key points from the contest...

Promising signs in valiant performance

Despite falling away in the second half of the game at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma's performance, especially in the first half, offered plenty to be positive about. Especially promising, however, was the methods the home side used to create openings against one of the finest, toughest defensive units in Europe.

Radja Nainggolan summed up his team's display in his post-match comments, saying: "It's an important point for the confidence. We managed to create some good chances in the first half. We feel a draw is a good result against what is a top side."

While Atletico have stability both on the pitch and in the dugout, the Giallorossi are still adjusting to life under a new coach.

"We are at the start of the season, there are new tactics and a different style of working to what we were used to,” Nainggolan noted. “It's normal that it will take a bit of time to be 100% for 90 minutes. But only through work will we get better at this. It will take time to do everything perfectly.”

Perotti overload

Eusebio Di Francesco’s decision to instruct Roma's nominal left-winger, Diego Perotti, to often push across and create an overload on the right-hand side served as an effective way to create advantageous scenarios against Diego Simeone's resolute side.

As seen in the graphic below, this allowed Roma to form a triangle with Perotti, Gregoire Defrel and Bruno Peres in order to use their three-on-two numerical superiority to bypass the Atletico defensive wing structure.

Roma exploit left half space

Another astute tactic that worked successfully for the Giallorossi came through their ability to find openings in the left half space to venture forward unimpeded.

With Atleti defending in their customary 4-4-2 setup, their two strikers of Antoine Griezmann and Luciano Vietto would naturally be focusing on covering central areas. From his left central midfield slot, Kevin Strootman recognised this and subsequently dropped into the left half space, which in combination with Perotti and Aleksandar Kolarov pinning their opponents further afield, gave Strootman plenty of room to dribble upfield freely into more advanced zones.

Second ball structure

Seeing as the Giallorossi regularly found life difficult when passing out from the back, they needed a viable 'out ball' whenever placed under heavy pressure. And thankfully they had one in the form of Edin Dzeko, who supplied a useful option for Roma throughout.

In addition, Roma's structure seemed geared toward win the second balls following Dzeko's flick-ons, enabled them to maintain possession and continue their attacking moves further up the pitch.

Strootman and Perotti were again key here, for they'd anticipate Dzeko winning his header and time their runs accordingly, which placed them in important two-on-one sequences to charge at a backpedalling Atletico backline.