Five Things We Learned: Good preparation ahead of Villarreal clash

Roma secured an important 2-0 away win over Crotone on Sunday. Our columnist looks at five key points from the contest...

Perfect preparation for Villarreal

The accomplished 2-0 win over Crotone was certainly ideal preparation ahead of the exciting Europa League tie with Villarreal on Thursday night.

Being able to put in such a solid showing away from home, while also resting Daniele De Rossi and giving Mohamed Salah the chance to get 70 (productive) minutes under his belt after his return from the AFCON, made for a positive afternoon.

"It was important that we won today, especially because it’ll be quite a similar atmosphere on Thursday,” Spalletti said.

“We produced a mature performance and controlled the play, which is great preparation for our next game. We did our job today and we want to do it again on Thursday.”

Roma's defensive masterclass

Facing off against Crotone's hard-working frontman Diego Falcinelli, the Giallorossi's fearsome defensive trio of Federico Fazio, Kostas Manolas and Antonio Rudiger put in a domineering showing, hardly giving their opponent a sniff.

Working well as a unit, they overpowered Falcinelli in the air, on the ground and in individual battles of strength. All in all, their understanding and good use of space and timing combined to see Falcinelli's already thankless task of leading the line on his own bear little fruit.

When quizzed about the value of his formidable defensive unit, Spalletti's answer offered plenty of insight into their importance, saying: "It’s definitely helped us to have three centre-backs with pace and physical presence. Rudiger, Manolas and Fazio know their jobs inside out, plus we have other players out at the moment who can come in for them.

"Right now we want to continue in the same vein – it’s their quality that’s making all the difference.”

Paredes steps up

Coming into the side for De Rossi, Leandro Paredes did a solid job of running the show in midfield for Spalletti's side. In a match where he dictated the play in a composed, intelligent and assured manner, Paredes showed why he can be such a valuable asset to the squad.

His clever diagonal, lateral and vertical movement saw him competently evade his opponents to receive the ball in dangerous locations, where he could then use his mesmerising range of passing to incisive effect.

Whether by hitting raking 40 yard diagonals out to Salah, playing penetrative line breaking forward passes or distributing the ball in a simpler fashion for the purpose of ball retention, the Argentine's aptitude in this regard allowed him to perform his role of deep lying playmaker with the utmost success.

Roma’s second goal, which killed off the game, was a direct result of his defence-splitting pass: a tangible reward for a good display.

Distribution mechanics vital

With Crotone content to drop back into a 5-4-1 shape and cede possession to the away side, Roma's mechanics when passing out from the back worked a treat. Seeing as Crotone’s lone forward, Falcinelli, was often the only man applying pressure on Roma’s three centre backs, this enabled Roma to easily bypass him and progress the ball upfield due to their numerical superiority.

Helped by the dropping movements of Paredes, and at times Kevin Strootman, Roma often outnumbered Crotone 4-on-1 or 5-on-1 in such scenarios, which afforded them a brilliant platform to generate their offensive moves throughout.

Vital roles of Salah and Nainggolan

The roles of Salah and Radja Nainggolan within Roma’s 3-4-2-1 formation were of huge importance to their side's attacking forays. Being positioned in the right and left half spaces respectively ensured they were in terrific locations to access both the centre and wide areas.

Furthermore, in combination with Kevin Strootman's constant excursions into the No. 10 spaces, Salah and Nainggolan (who deserves extra credit, having shifted to the left for this game to accommodate Salah) gave the side a brilliant central attacking presence to combine with Edin Dzeko and not leave him isolated.

The success of this tactic could be seen as the duo’s movement persistently saw them manipulate Crotone's defensive structure to find space, with Nainggolan"s opener being a telling example. In addition, their indented positioning vitally meant Roma's wing-backs had vast spaces out wide to take advantage of.