Opinion: El Shaarawy sparkles, Nzonzi stands tall

Roma drew with Inter in a hard-fought clash away from home on Saturday evening. Our columnist looks at four key points from the contest...

A draw not all bad

Despite Stephan El Shaarawy giving Roma an early lead with a marvelous strike against Inter Milan, Ivan Perisic's second half strike ensured the spoils were shared, with a 1-1 draw the final result.

On a day where AC Milan drew with Parma and Lazio lost to Chievo Verona, a point away at the Giuseppe Meazza importantly keeps the Giallorossi right in the hunt for a coveted Champions League point.

Looking more defensively compact and solid under Claudio Ranieri's guidance, Roma continued their improvement in this phase with another collectively resolute stopping effort to do a sound job of nullifying Inter's multifaceted offensive game.

While he lamented some of the missed chances, Ranieri cut a content figure after the match.

"We came here to try to win, which is what I like to see from my teams," he said.

"We could have capitalised more and counter-attacked better in the second half. We were too flat at times and Inter did well to stop us from breaking. We can live with coming here to San Siro and getting a point while trying to win right until the end."

El Shaarawy's heroics

El Shaarawy once again proved his undoubted value to this team by putting in a strong showing vs. Inter. Such a threat with his intelligent movement and dangerous 1v1 dribbling, he caused his direct opponent, Danilo D'Ambrosio, many issues on how to combat him.

Embarking on some superbly timed runs in behind and into the box, this, in combination with his crafty rotations with Edin Dzeko and Lorenzo Pellegrini, meant he was certainly a tough man to contain.

A master at timing and directing his movements, he took up preferable locations to give his colleagues a viable outlet. In addition, if he wasn't used, he did an excellent job of drawing his man away from exploitable space for a teammate to use.

His solid understanding with Dzeko was especially good to see, as whenever Dzeko dropped deep, El Shaarawy would smartly occupy the striking role to maintain depth and a central presence to Roma's attacks.

The Italian dynamo's most notable contribution arrived for his goal, however. Having received the ball in an advantageous 1v1 out wide in transition, El Shaarawy immediately charged at D'Ambrosio.

Teasing him with some sharp feints and shimmies, he subsequently breezed past D'Ambrosio with ease.

Matias Vecino then came out to challenge, but he too was overcome, this time with a cunning disguised shot fake.

Now in an ideal central position just outside the box, El Shaarawy capped off his magical solo run with a sublimely placed finish.

Moving into double figures for Serie A goals for the second time in his career, the 26-year-old's quality continues to be key in Roma's run home.

Ranieri's tactical tweak vital

With Roma initially defending in a 4-4-2 shape, which left them overrun in midfield and struggling to handle the likes of Radja Nainggolan's movement in between the lines, Ranieri's shrewd switch to more of a 4-5-1 paid instant dividends.

This alteration vitally increased coverage of those damaging central areas and limited the effectiveness of Inter's offensive moves.

In addition to giving the Giallorossi better horizontal compactness, they way Bryan Cristante or Pellegrini would step out to press the ball carrier, while using their cover shadow to block pass routes behind them, was key in funneling their opponents wide.

Forcing Inter wide ensured the home team fired in many crosses, but with Roma's overall heading and physical advantage over Inter's smaller strikeforce, the Giallorossi were well equipped to handle these situations (Perisic's equaliser and a couple of other instances aside).

Working hard as a unit and controlling the centre better after Ranieri's tweak, Roma's players deserve plenty of credit for their tactical adaptability, concentration to defend for long spells and dogged attitude in largely blanketing their highly fancied adversaries.

Nzonzi proves his worth

Even though it hasn't all been plain sailing for Steven Nzonzi throughout his first season in Rome, the 2018 World Cup winner produced one of his best outings in a Roma shirt against Inter.

Vindicating Ranieri's decision to hand him a start, he repaid his manager's faith with an assured performance on both sides of the ball.

Reading the play adeptly, Nzonzi cut out many attacks with his smart positioning and defensive nous.

Aided by his towering frame that saw him use his long legs and imposing height to further disrupt his foes, he was a real obstacle for Inter to overcome in ground and aerial battles.

Supporting his backline admirably and always willing to drop back to help, his presence was vital towards Roma making life tough for the Nerazzurri.

Coherent and composed in his passing too, he played some incisive deliveries into the feet of his attackers, recirculated possession coolly while Roma waited for an option and changed the angle of attacks crisply.

Factor in a couple of his customary driving forward surges and it was a really positive body of work from the Frenchman, who will have gained plenty of confidence from his latest effort.

By the numbers, his 13 interceptions, five won aerial duels, four ball recoveries, three blocked shots and seven clearances duly punctuated his quality exertions.

All statistics provided by InStat.