Four Things We Learned: Mayoral movement enough to see side home

Back to winning ways in Serie A

With the matches coming thick and fast for AS Roma this, in combination with their injury issues, saw Paulo Fonseca forced to rotate his squad for their Serie A clash with Bologna.

Making many adjustments for this one, the likes of Federico Fazio, Antonio Mirante, Carles Perez and Bryan Reynolds (making his first start) were all handed opportunities. And even though Roma weren't at their free flowing best, the Giallorossi still registered a crucial 1-0 victory, with Borja Mayoral's goal proving the difference.

Making it two wins in a row following their wonderful victory over Ajax in the Europa League, Fonseca cut a content figure afterwards.

"We changed a lot of players, it was important to be able to rest a few of the lads who played in the game against Ajax," he said.

"It’s true that we struggled a bit in the first half because of the pressure they put us under with their one-to-one marking. But I think we found the right balance eventually and in the second half it was a completely different game. We created a lot of chances to score more goals.”

Mirante shines in goal

Making his first appearance since December, Antonio Mirante produced a fine showing between the posts for Roma. Looking like he'd never been away, the veteran was integral towards his team obtaining a valuable clean sheet.

Called into action often on his way to making four saves, his contribution was vital in keeping his team in the game.

Unquestionably, however, his finest save arrived in the 20th minute, where he produced a spectacular stop to deny Roberto Soriano from close range.

Aside from the aforementioned, the way he commanded his area, got his footwork spot on and charged off his line with conviction to cut out attacks were all key elements of his secure showing.

Mayoral's masterful movement

Borja Mayoral continued his positive campaign by scoring Roma's winner in sensational style and putting in a polished all-round performance. So intelligent and aware of his surroundings, his movement was certainly a vital component towards his success.

To start with his runs in behind, and he timed and angled his depth runs brilliantly to get the jump on his markers. Whether running off the back shoulder of his man, using double movements to unbalance his marker, exploiting their blindside, targeting gaps between defenders or taking advantage of the spaces behind the onrushing Bologna fullbacks in transition, he wreaked havoc.

Indeed, his goal offered a fine example of aptitude here, where he read Ibanez's through ball perfectly to spin off his man and latch onto the pass before lifting the ball smartly over Lukasz Skorupski, who'd changed off his line, to score into an empty net.

The Spanish striker also impacted proceedings when dropping deep with his back to goal, rotating with fellow attackers, Perez and Pedro, offering himself as a target for long balls and crosses and when bursting into the area.

Clinical and efficient, Mayoral underlined his importance to the team not only through his magnificent goal, which was his 14th of the season, but courtesy of his often unheralded movement too.

Roma expose Bologna between the lines

Roma's all Spanish front three of Mayoral, Pedro and Perez worked cohesively together to frequently find spaces between the lines of Bologna's midfield and defence.

Seeing as Bologna typically defended in a man oriented fashion, this saw their midfielders step out to Roma's central midfielders, Amadou Diawara and Gonzalo Villar, which left acres of space behind them.

Upon factoring in how a combination of Mayoral, the wingbacks or one or both of the attacking midfielders would pin their markers deep, making them wary to step out due to their deep threat, this only enhanced their opportunities to receive between the lines.

With Bologna's defenders regularly caught in two minds and forced into challenging decisions regarding what actions to take, Roma made the most of this indecision to inherit possession in these dangerous central positions in front of the away side's backline.

Although they weren't able to score through this avenue, they still created many promising situations through this strategy, which could well bear fruit in future matches.