Four Things We Learned: Smalling helps grind out the win

Dzeko headed home from Henrikh Mkhitaryan's clipped cross to decide the game - rendering Aleksandar Kolarov's late missed penalty only a brief blip in another determined away display.

Back to winning ways

Roma bounced back strongly with a good performance against Fabio Liverani's determined Lecce. Running out 1-0 victors in the stifling conditions at the Stadio Via del Mare thanks to Edin Dzeko's vital strike, there was much to admire about Roma's work on both sides of the ball, as their Expected Goals tally was a solid 1.96, and their XG against was around the one mark.

Despite Kolarov missing a penalty and Roma not converting some promising chances after some smart passages, getting all three points while keeping a clean sheet was vital from this tough away day.

“We could have scored five or six. Lecce didn’t have any chances in the second period," said a pleased Paulo Fonseca.

"We’re still looking for the right balance in our team. I’m happy – we won the game and didn’t concede. It’s always tough to pick up three points away from home – this is a big win for us.”

Smalling shines again

After putting in an accomplished performance on debut against Atalanta, Chris Smalling backed it up with another excellent outing away at Lecce. A positive contributor on both sides of the ball, the Englishman demonstrated his class.

To start with his defensive work, and he undertook his tasks in a coherent fashion, as he executed his actions effectively to break up attacks. Whether it be stepping out to press his opponent with their back to goal, pushing forward to win the loose ball, tracking runners deep, taking over marking assignments in the channels or supporting a colleague, Smalling choose what to do with conviction.

The athletic defender's pace and smart reading of the play were key for him too, allowing him to track runners deep or provide covering support.

In addition, he held his own in aerial confrontations, with him picking up the ball's trajectory quickly, plus using his leap and positional sense, to quell the immediate danger and help hIs team recover possession.

It was also great to see the Manchester United loanee excel with the ball at his feet. Carrying the ball forward strongly when the opportunity presented itself to provoke pressing actions, he enjoyed the space ahead of him that was created by Fonseca's build up mechanics (which will be touched on later).

He notably accompanied the aforementioned with his passing, which saw him stroke the ball around with aplomb. On top of recirculating the ball coolly, the way he fired some line breaking vertical passes into the feet of his attackers and a few slick through balls were also impressive.

By the numbers, his 61 completed passes at 94%, 10 accurate passes into the final third, three shots, two progressive runs, seven interceptions, five ball recoveries and the fact he won all eight of his aerial duels depicted his dominant display.

Having made a very encouraging start to life at the Giallorossi, Smalling will have gained much confidence that he can cement his spot within the Roma rearguard.

Offensive shape shows Fonseca's tactical intelligence

Coming up against Lecce's narrow 4-3-3 defensive shape, Fonseca chose to combat this by deploying a 3-2-4-1 shape when in possession. The back three consisted of Alessandro Florenzi, Gianluca Mancini and Smalling, with Amadou Diawara and Jordan Veretout just ahead of them in central midfield.

Kolarov would push up and provide the width on the left and Justin Kluivert on the right. Henrikh Mkhitaryan would then shift infield and act ostensibly like an extra No. 10 alongside Lorenzo Pellegrini. To round things out, Dzeko would lead the line.

Although there were some variations at times, this base created some interesting mechanics for Roma to progress through the thirds with. With Diawara and Veretout often playing within close proximity to one another, this drew Lecce's first line very narrow. Roma would then use the side backs, Smalling and Florenzi, to surge into the space ahead out wide, as they hoped to lure out a press from an opponent to free up a colleague or open a passing lane.

Roma's two advanced attacking midfielders in Mkhitaryan and Pellegrini would then pose issues with their positioning and movement, while the presence out wide of Kolarov and Kluivert gave Roma some impetus to fire in crosses or challenge their trackers 1v1 on the dribble as the defence struggled to shift across in time.

Dzeko would then provide depth and coalesce well with his midfielders to generate openings within Lecce's last line.

Using these dynamics as the foundation, Roma were regularly able to break down their foes to construct some really dangerous sequences, as Fonseca impressively showcased his tactical acumen.

Pellegrini and Mkhitaryan's mechanics

To further shine the spotlight on the roles of Mkhitaryan and Pellegrini, and these two were crucial towards connecting and animating their team's offensive forays.

Using their intelligence and ability to dovetail with their colleagues to occupy good positions to give their teammates options on the ball, the duo proved difficult for Lecce to keep tabs on centrally and in the half spaces (the graphic below illustrates their movement).

Working brilliantly with Dzeko, they'd cleverly perform opposite movements or wait for the Bosnian spearhead to draw markers away before embarking on crafty runs in behind. Angling and timing their runs beautifully, the Armenian and the Italian were keen to exploit any chances to burst upfield.

Working brilliantly with Dzeko, they'd cleverly perform opposite movements or wait for the Bosnian spearhead to draw markers away before embarking on crafty runs in behind. Angling and timing their runs beautifully, the Armenian and the Italian were keen to exploit any chances to burst upfield.

Another method that bore fruit came from how the ball far midfielder would push across to the side of the pitch the ball was on to look to manufacture an overload to help bypass the opposition.

Not only did this give them better connectivity to quickly move the ball under advantageous conditions, it also meant Kolarov or Kluivert could be isolated on the far side and that they could counterpress with numbers in case of a turnover.

Making the most of the qualities of Pellegrini and Mkhitaryan, Fonseca deserved credit for devising this strategy, which persistently helped add some spark to Roma's attacks.