Four Things We Learned: Perotti floats around to sting SPAL

Lorenzo Pellegrini, Diego Perotti and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the second half goals for the Giallorossi at the Olimpico.

Accomplished victory over SPAL

Despite going down 1-0 to a determined, defensively resolute SPAL outfit, Roma produced a second half fightback to claim all three points.

On a night where Edin Dzeko and Federico Fazio made their 200th and 150th performances for the Giallorossi respectively, the home side responded brilliantly to the adversity of going behind, displaying plenty of character and quality to secure a 3-1 win.

With Paulo Fonseca demanding his team put in a better showing than in the draw with Wolfsberg, he was justifiably happy with his team when speaking afterwards.

“Today it was important to win. The attitude of all the boys was spot on – that’s the team spirit that we always need to demonstrate," Fonseca insisted.

“We played well in the first half. We missed lots of chances but played with intensity and speed. The half-time score-line did not reflect the game. The team created more chances in the second half and we got goals. The players know that, for me, attitude is the most important thing. If you play for Roma, you need to be brave and ambitious. I push my team, because they always need to play to win.”

Florenzi firing again

Having been on the peripheries for chunks of this season and been made to wait patiently for his opportunities, Alessandro Florenzi was back to the fore on Sunday.

From his right-back station, Roma's captain vindicated Fonseca's decision to hand him another start, for Florenzi worked tirelessly on both sides of the ball.

Showing tremendous leadership and setting the tone for his teammates to follow with his effort and commitment, his presence certainly spurred his team on.

Especially making an impact on the offensive end, his driving, slickly timed overlapping and underlapping runs and wonderful combination play with his nearby attackers was very encouraging indeed.

Regularly stretching his adversaries with his high and wide positioning and putting his opponents under pressure with his ball carrying and crossing too, Florenzi was a threat throughout.

Capping off his excellent body of work with a lovely cutback assist to tee up Henrikh Mkhitaryan to score Roma's third, this was a fine reward for him.

Looking forward, the display should do wonders for his confidence, while his manager's complementary words in the aftermath will have given him a boost too.

"He played very well. As I’ve always said, he’s a great professional and I’ve got no issues with him," Fonseca said.

"Sometimes I have various options available to me. If there were problems between us, he wouldn’t have played, but he did. There’s no problem with him.”

Perotti's second half freedom crucial towards comeback

Knowing it wouldn't be easy to unlock SPAL in the second half, as the Biancazzurri were content to sit back and protect their lead, the movement of Diego Perotti was vital towards Roma gaining the upper hand.

Clearly granted some additional freedom by his manager for the second stanza, Perotti relished his role.

Whether dropping deep to generate numerical superiorities in midfield, pushing to the opposite flank to create overloads, getting in between the lines centrally and in the half spaces, by offering a threat in behind or sharply rotating with his teammates, he persistently caused issues for the opposition (as shown in his received passes map below).

Acting as an important figure in connecting, constructing and animating Roma's attacks, plus gaining some vital extra control, he did a super job of positioning himself to support attacks and moving into areas that were of most benefit depending on the situation.

Suiting his incisive passing and dribbling skills suitably, his role allowed him to use his creativity and ingenuity to cause marking dilemmas, disconnects in the SPAL rearguard and some openings for the Giallorossi.

By the numbers, his nine dribbles, seven progressive runs, 30 completed passes at 88%, four completed final third passes, two key passes, four shots, four touches inside the box and customarily composed penalty goal depicted his admirable output.

Adding another dimension to Roma's offensive phases, this smart adjustment by Fonseca unquestionably aided Roma in their successful quest to comeback.

Collective defensive effort

After keeping a clean sheet against Inter Milan, where Chris Smalling and Gianluca Mancini did a fantastic job of nullifying Inter's front two of Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku, Roma had to do without their premier defensive pairing for this one, as Smalling missed due to injury and Mancini cause of suspension.

Although the incoming pair of Federico Fazio and Mert Cetin couldn't obtain a clean sheet, they performed admirably by stepping in to do a good job of monitoring SPAL's forwards, Andrea Petagna and Alberto Paloschi.

Keeping their shape effectively and working in unison as a backline to push the line higher, drop back to support each other or shift across, there was plenty to admire about how Roma's backline restricted SPAL to an XG of around one. Not bad at all, considering only one starter, Aleksandar Kolarov, was starting of the regular back four.

Moreover, the fact Roma's pressing did an efficient job of preventing the away side from building out from the back, in combination with their positioning to win second balls in midfield and competitiveness in duels all over the pitch, only compounded issues for their foes.

While it can certainly be a challenge when key players are unavailable, Roma coped manfully, in a match where they collectively handled whatever Leonardo Semplici's men threw at them.