Roberto D’Aversa at Parma 2019/20 – tactical analysis

It is hard to look past the astonishing job which Roberto D’Aversa has carried out this season with Parma. The Italian, arguably one of the most underrated managers in Europe, has led the Ducali to their current position of ninth place in Serie A and impressed with his pragmatic philosophy, making his side extremely tough to beat. 

D’Aversa, who took over late in 2016, is now the third longest-serving manager in Serie A. The Italian has guided Parma out of Lega Pro, Serie B and earned Parma a promotion back to the top tier of Italian football. 

The Gialloblu have improved on last seasons performances and are likely to finish above the 14th place, achieved in 2018/19 as the side continue their development under D’Aversa.

In the following tactical analysis, we examine Parma’s attacking and defending tactics in the Italian top flight and explain the key concepts of D’Aversa’s side.

Tactical systems

Throughout the 2019/20 season Parma mainly deployed a 4-3-3 system, starting 52% of Serie A games in this formation. However, as the game developed D’Aversa often could be found operating a 4-2-3-1, 5-4-1 or a 4-1-3-2 depending on whether he was looking to plug the holes and hold onto a lead or look for a late equaliser. 

In order to gain an understanding of the type of team we are looking at under Roberto D’Aversa I would like to start by forming an understanding of Parma’s statistical output over the 2019/20 season.

Starting with expected goals (xG) and expected goals against (xGA), comparing them to goals scored and conceded. Currently, Parma are sitting on 30.7xG and have scored 32 goals. This means they are slightly overperforming their xG by 1.3 goals, managing to convert opportunities created roughly in line with the expectations. However, Parma have an xGA of 42.1 compared with 31 goals conceded. It is here under D’Aversa that Parma are significantly overachieving their xGA by 11.1 goals, conceding a significant amount less than they should have expected, which cannot be purely down to luck, some credit has to be given to Parma and the defence for blocking shots or their goalkeeper for pulling off some crucial saves.