Opinion: Four things we learned from Roma's stirring 2-1 victory over Milan

Roma come up big in accomplished win over AC Milan

AS Roma returned to the winners list with a brilliant 2-1 win over AC Milan, thanks to goals from Edin Dzeko and Nicolo Zaniolo. Brushing their injuries concerns to one side and putting the heartbreaking events of the Borussia Monchengladbach match behind them, the Giallorossi put in a super collective performance to secure all three points.

In a display where Paulo Fonseca's tactics bore fruit on both sides of the ball, as he showed his acuity to deal with whatever Milan had to offer, the Portuguese coach had every reason to be delighted with his troops' implementation of his plans and the character they showed.

“We fought hard today," Fonseca said after the match. "I have to say that it’s not easy to play three matches in a week right now, but the players deserved this result.”

The fact Roma outperformed their foes in expected goals by 1.36 to 0.58 further underlined their strong showing.

Smart pressing system

Whether AC Milan were building out from the back in a central back two or three, Roma pressed their first line impressively to cause many turnovers by limiting their options. Timing their harrying to close off central areas by using their cover shadows, Milan struggled heavily to find solutions to bypass the Wolves.

Pressing in varying shapes such as a 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1, it was brilliant to see how they remained coordinated in their pressing despite Stefano Pioli's adjustments. Mixing zonal and man orientations, there was much to admire about how they maintained good access and condensed the pitch by keeping their defensive line high and shifting aggressively to the ball near side.

Indeed, their aptitude here served as a fine chance creator, for they forced many mistakes, thus allowing them to regain the ball high up so they could immediately get at the unset, spread out and disorganised Rossoneri backine.

A perfect example of their effectiveness arose in the lead up to Zaniolo's winner, where Mirko Antonucci smartly angled his intense press at Davide Calabria, meaning Calabria mishit his intended pass to Lucas Biglia.

Having read the play shrewdly, Dzeko then pounced to intercept the stray pass, which then kickstarted the passage that ended in Zaniolo lashing the ball home with aplomb.

Set piece mechanics work wonders

Demonstrating their immense set piece threat throughout the contest, Roma were a real force to be reckoned with in such instances. Persistently asking questions of their adversaries, the away side couldn't combat Roma's prowess here. While Roma missed some gilt-edged chances, their goal offered a glowing reference of what a key weapon this can be for them.

To start with, Gianluca Mancini, Zaniolo and Federico Fazio made smart decoy runs towards the near post, which drew their respective markers with them. This inherently generated plenty of central space for Dzeko to ultimately exploit while ensuring Mancini was in an ideal position to flick on Jordan Veretout's corner.

Another vital element was Chris Smalling's masterful block on Franck Kessie, that crucially gave Dzeko the separation he needed to latch onto Mancini's flick unimpeded before finding the back of the net with his neatly placed header.

Doing a sterling job of manufacturing space for colleagues to utilise by using decoy runs and blocks, the Giallorossi's dead ball mechanics were a joy to watch, in a match where they unleashed efforts on goal from three of their four corners.

Switches of play break the press

By frequently directing their attacks down one side during build up, which consequently saw Milan shift across heavily to deal with this, before then quickly switching the play to the opposite side, Roma found joy breaking the press via this avenue.

This overload to isolate strategy especially took flight when Roma switched the play over to the right, where Leonardo Spinazzola relished receiving in oceans of space to use his dynamic skill set to drive his team forward and provide width.

The way Zaniolo then positioned himself high and infield enhanced the room for Spinazzola to enjoy, for Zaniolo pinned his man, meaning they were reluctant to jump out to press Spinazzola.

The fact Spinazzola embarked on five progressive runs highlighted how beneficial this tactic was, with him thriving in these neatly constructed conditions.