Gian Piero Gasperini Tactics At AS Roma 2025/2026: Building On Claudio Ranieri Revolution – Tactical Analysis

After a season full of drama for AS Roma and their supporters, I Giallorossi finished the season in fifth place in Serie A, an achievement whose merit goes to Claudio Ranieri, who led the team during a complicated period, saving them from playing to avoid relegation to playing for European spots.

With Ranieri’s spell coming to an end, Roma announced that he would remain their trusted director and senior advisor to the ownership, and Gian Piero Gasperini would be appointed as Roma’s new head coach.

This appointment was made at the advice of Ranieri himself.

He believed in Gasperinis ability to build on what was established this season and in his potential success with the team, given his extensive experience in Serie A.

In fact, Gasperini not only has extensive experience in Serie A but also success at most of the clubs he has managed.

The most notable success remains his latest long journey with Atalanta, where he developed a revolutionary style of football and helped the team become one of the top teams in Serie A, after they had previously played in mid-table at best during the early 2000s.

During that period, Atalanta alternated between playing in Serie B and Serie A.

With Gasperinis arrival, he succeeded in turning the team into a much more powerful one that battled for Europe without fear.

Although things did not instantly improve for Atalanta, they continued to progress year after year, reaching UEFA Champions League football on numerous occasions and finishing third in Serie A on multiple occasions.

Moreover, he led them to winning their first-ever European trophy in 2023/2024 by winning the UEFA Europa League title.

In this tactical analysis, we will focus on presenting Gasperini’s preferred playing system, his footballing philosophy, and how he can apply it to the current Roma team, as well as identifying which players are better suited for his system.

Listen to this article free on the Total Football Analysis Podcast via Spotify, Apple Podcast, or RSS.

Who Is Gian Piero Gasperini?

Before delving deeper into the concepts Gasperini believes in, it is worth noting that his coaching career began at Juventus, where he coached the youth team before moving to Crotone from 2003 to 2006.

In that year, Genoa signed a contract with Gasperini, and he led them to promotion to Serie A in his first season.

In the following season, his tactics and management helped the team finish fifth in Serie A, the highest placement for the team in 19 years.

This secured a UEFA Europa League spot for I Rossoblù.

His spectacular footballing system, which relied on the 3-4-3 formation at the time, was renowned throughout Italy.

Nevertheless, he failed during his first months at Inter Milan and was sacked soon after he joined the team.

This should be considered when analysing Gasperini’s profile, as his lack of experience managing top teams may be an issue for him at a popular club like Roma.

This also means that Roma need to give Gasperini some time to apply his system successfully.

He should experiment with the players initially until he finds the best possible lineup and formation.

The process will likely result in some initial defeats, as the players and the head coach will need some time to adapt to each other and to Gasperini’s desired movements and plans on the pitch.

That’s why it will be much wiser to opt for the largest possible number of friendly games before the start of the season to avoid experimenting during the Serie A games.

Gian Piero Gasperini Style Of Play

Gasperini was inspired by Ajax’s playing style of the 1990s, which was characterised by the 3-3-3-1 formation, a formation that drew upon many footballing legends of that time.

He relies on a progressive style of football, characterised by a lot of movement without the ball, interchangeability of positions, and outstanding abilities in individual 1v1 duels, whether in defence or attack.

Gasperini adopted this 3-3-3-1 model and adjusted it to suit his footballing philosophy and needs, sometimes turning it into a 3-4-1-2 formation or a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Gian Piero Gasperini Attacking Tactics: Role Of The Advanced Playmaker

Gasperini attacking tactics rely heavily on the advanced playmaker’s movements without the ball to help create numerical superiority on one of the two flanks.

This allows the team to exploit the half-spaces created by the advanced playmaker and use triangular passes to penetrate towards the opponent’s final third.

As shown below, the advanced playmakers movement into empty spaces provides the wing-back with the opportunity to exchange short passes with him, allowing the latter to find space and time to advance and receive the ball again.

The advanced playmaker’s movement attracts defenders to him and leaves some room not just for the wing-back but also for the second striker, who would exploit such spaces on the wing.

This is one of the recurrent movements Gasperini needs from his players without the ball, since he believes in chance creation from the wings, and that’s his preferred way to start the attacking actions.

Gian Piero Gasperini Interchangeability Of Positions

Given that Gasperini believes in the total football concept and the reliance on duels, we always expect to see interchangeability within the teams he coaches.

In other words