Opinion: 3 notable performances from the Torino victory

We’ve highlighted three individual performances that stood out from their comfortable win over Torino, one that saw Chris Smalling impressively return to the Giallorossi defence.

CHRIS SMALLING

The sight of the England international back at the heart of the Giallorossi defence will ease the minds of many Roma supporters and within minutes of kick-off, Smalling had already exhibited why he is such a calming presence as the middleman in Roma’s back three.

Smalling tends to operate slightly deeper than his teammates, providing cover as Fonseca’s sweeper and he had already snuffed out Karol Linetty’s lurking beyond the Roma back-line before he’d closed off and blocked Andrea Belotti’s effort from the left of Roma’s penalty spot - all inside the first six minutes of the match.

He will be disappointed to have not secured what looked like a nailed-on clean sheet until Belotti’s scrappy late consolation but, more importantly, his overall performance - and that of fellow returnee Gianluca Mancini - will have brought great encouragement as to the health of Roma’s squad going into a busy end to an already hectic 2020.

JORDAN VERETOUT

Just a year-and-a-half into life as a Roma player, it’s hard to imagine how the side would look without the Frenchman controlling things from central midfield.

Veretout does exactly that; he exerts control and exudes a calmness that evidently rubs off on his often youthful partners in the centre of the park - on Thursday, that being Gonzalo Villar - who appear to get better with each passing week that they feature alongside the Roma No. 17.

Following on from his superb performance against Bologna last time out - that included a superbly taken finish for Roma’s fourth goal - this was another typically all-action display from Veretout as the 27-year-old won nine duels, completed 96 per cent of his passes and added a sixth goal of the season by making it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

GONZALO VILLAR

As mentioned above, Villar is a player clearly benefiting from playing alongside Veretout and his displays so far this term - in both the Europa League and Serie A - have stood out every time the Spaniard has taken up the role as one of Roma’s double-pivot in midfield.

That’s become increasingly more common in recent weeks, with Villar starting each of Roma’s last three matches in Serie A and he has come into the team to free up Pellegrini to quite devastating effect over the course of a pair of back-to-back league wins for the Giallorossi over the last four days.

As we’ve come to expect, Villar was incredibly economical with the ball against Torino - completing 92 per cent of his 60 passes.

However, it was the 22-year-old’s ability to - time-and-again - use his exceptional close control to drive beyond his opposite numbers in midfield and get overloads in his team’s favour that underlines just how much of a spark Villar is giving Roma from midfield.