Four Things We Learned: Schick sticks it to Entella

Comfortable victory in the Coppa

Roma couldn't have hoped for a better way to begin their Coppa Italia campaign, as they comfortably brushed aside Virtus Entella 4-0.

Menacing throughout and keeping a clean sheet, highlights were in abundance for the Giallorossi. On top of getting vital minutes under the players' belts after a well-earned break, further encouragement came from Patrik Schick stamping his mark, Ivan Marcano getting his first goal for the club, Alessio Riccardi debuting for the first-team, and both Rick Karsdorp and Javier Pastore getting going after injury-hit spells.

Happy to navigate this fixture without too many issues, Eusebio Di Francesco cut a delighted figure in his post-match comments.

“They've looked good in training and they've been working well,” he said. “They played with confidence today and wanted to enjoy themselves – that's important.

“They've come back keen to make a strong start and that's a good sign. I'm very happy with the way they've approached training and this match.”

Super Schick shines

Patrik Schick was outstanding throughout from his centre forward role, as he blended energy, invention, technique and incisive movement wonderfully. To start with the latter, and his movement was so key towards him being able to create space for his teammates and get into dangerous positions himself.

Timing his runs excellently, he dropped deep nicely, supported wide attacks and embarked on many searing runs in behind. When it came to making space for others, he was just as menacing - as he would persistently pin one or both of Virtus Entella's central defenders or use decoy runs to manufacture space for his colleagues, something the graphics below aptly illustrate.

Getting into ideal areas to score his coolly taken brace, his aptitude in this regard was certainly key towards his impact.

The actual finishes themselves were also special, with the Czech striker's first being a sublime flick after 23 seconds and his second a perfectly struck and placed shot that nestled into the back of the net.

Further upside could be drawn from his imaginative passing that not only saw him provide that magical assist for Marcano's goal, but also link play neatly, plus how he held the ball up, competed manfully in aerial duels and through his defensive work.

Indeed, his two key passes, two dribbles, three won aerial duels, seven shots, two interceptions and four tackles yet again saw him demonstrate his talent.

Overloads in key areas

The inclusion of Pastore was vital in terms of generating overloads in key areas to aid Roma's progression through the thirds. Playing against Virtus Entella's 4-4-2 defensive shape, Pastore frequently ensured Roma had a 3v2 numerical superiority in central midfield alongside Lorenzo Pellegrini and Bryan Cristante to bypass their opponents.

He did the same in wide areas, where he'd push over to support wide attacks to create geometric shapes to supply a vital outlet back inside and generate a 4v3 advantage.

Directing his movement cleverly so he could be found with passes to feet, Roma constantly found joy in breaking down the away side both centrally and out wide, as the uniquely skilled Argentine was unquestionably pivotal towards this.

Fullbacks exploit width expertly

Seeing as Entella defended in quite a compact fashion with their wingers tucked into the half spaces and not tracking Roma's fullbacks, this left vast spaces for Aleksandar Kolarov and Rick Karsdorp to utilise. Moreover, the way Roma's wingers would drift infield and draw their man with them, this subsequently produced even more space for the fullbacks to jet into.

The flying Dutchman in Karsdorp particularly made the most of these situations, where he'd push right up high into true right wing areas, ready to surge in behind. With oceans of space ahead of him due to the Wolves so effectively manipulating their adversaries' structure, Karsdorp was able to give Roma immense offensive impetus with his dynamic, defence stretching runs.

Karsdorp's passes received map from InStat below accentuates how many touches he had in advanced areas, in a match where this tactic bore fruit with tremendous success.

Statistics provided by InStat.