Four Things We Learned: Tactical tweaks that turned the game

Draw with Inter no cause for disappointment

Roma drew 2-2 at the Stadio Olimpico with Inter Milan, in a match where many positives could be extracted.

Taking the lead through Lorenzo Pellegrini's long range effort on 17 minutes, this was a fine reward for their exceptional first half, where they were sharp going forward and pressed effectively. The match was then flipped on its head in the second stanza as Inter came out strong, and saw them lead 2-1 by the 63rd minute.

The Giallorossi then showed immense character and spirit to fight back and claim a point through Gianluca Mancini's late goal.

Although getting a draw with title contenders Inter isn't a bad result, Paulo Fonseca knew his team could've done better, as he lamented his team's poor start to the second half.

“It’s hard for me to discuss this game, because I think we did well in the first half and then in the first 15 minutes of the second half we were just not the same team," he said.

“Then, when Inter scored their second, we found ourselves again – playing nearer their penalty area. Those 15-20 minutes after the break were fatal.”

Pau Lopez's heroics

It was fantastic to see Pau Lopez put in such a brilliant showing on the big stage. Playing at a level that resembled his best, the Spaniard looked assured between the sticks and commanded his area admirably.

It was also good to see him use his polished passing to help in build up and strike some accurate longer passes if Roma couldn't overcome Inter's press.

Unquestionably, however, the most important details of his display came from his two masterful saves to deny Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez, where his razor sharp reactions and cat-like reflexes saw him sensationally deny the duo from close range.

Indeed, his polished exertions will serve as a huge confidence boost that he can now kick on and cement himself as Roma's No. 1. His comments after the match were intriguing to hear, where he spoke honestly about the frustrations he's endured and how he plans to keep striving to improve.

"It has been a little bit of a different year. At the end of last year my performance was not excellent and the coach chose to field Antonio," he said.

"From that moment on, I only thought about working, improving and being ready when I had to enter the field. I know I'm in an important club, I had to fight to get here, I don't give up easily for a few games that I didn't do well. My intention is to stay here, I have a contract for many years, and I want to do well with Roma."

Pellegrini the free man

Coming up against Antonio Conte's typically well-implemented high pressing scheme, Fonseca came prepared to bypass it with some clever mechanics.

With Roma's back three being pressed by Lukaku, Martinez and Nicolo Barella, who'd push out from midfield to track Ibanez, this meant Marcelo Brozovic and Arturo Vidal monitored Gonzalo Villar and Jordan Veretout. As a result of Inter's three midfielders being drawn to Ibanez, Villar and Veretout, Pellegrini was able to shrewdly exploit the spaces behind Inter's midfield to wreak havoc.

Constantly finding openings between the lines, Inter found him a nightmare to contain, with him receiving so often in the half spaces off the back shoulder of Inter's midfielders.

Rick Karsdorp's high positioning deserves praise, for the Dutchman pinned Matteo Darmian, which prevented him from stepping out to Pellegrini.

The fact Pellegrini received far enough away from Inter's left sided central defender, Alessandro Bastoni, meant he wasn't comfortable pushing out that far, with the end result meaning Pellegrini was left free to weave his magic.

Shrewd pressing mechanics

Roma's smart high pressing strategy was one of the key reasons why they started the match so brightly.

Playing in a reasonably similar formation to the Nerazzurri, Roma encountered a similar problem of what to do with the free midfielder of Inter (usually Barella). It must be said, the Giallorossi dealt with the conundrum more effectively.

Using a couple of methods to shut down Barella, they'd most commonly instruct Ibanez to aggressively step forward from centre back to mark him (as seen below).

If Ibanez was occupied or unable to harry Barella, either Leonardo Spinazzola from wingback or a backtracking Henrikh Mkhitaryan would get to him to shut down the Italian.

Working cohesively as a unit to limit Inter's potentially damaging overload in midfield, credit must go to the players for carrying out Fonseca's plan beautifully, which was especially successful in the opening 45.