Serie A 2019/20: Roma vs Bologna – tactical analysis

It was an intriguing early show between Roma and Bologna at the Olimpico di Roma on a Friday night. Paulo Fonseca’s team had not been doing well in the new calendar year. In the most recent seven games, they only won two. In the previous game, they failed to take any points from Sassuolo. They had to carry on to fight for a Champions League ticket next season.

Before the clash, Bologna ranked 11^th on the Serie A table, two points behind AC Milan. They had a strong one in the league recently, with only one loss out of seven. They are also potential contenders of the Europa League spots.

In this tactical analysis, we will show you how Bologna took all the points from Roma. In it an analysis that focuses on tactics.

Lineups

The home team played in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Lorenzo Pellegrini was banned as he was sent off in the last game. Jordan Veretout and Bryan Cristante started as the defensive midfielders. In the attacking force, Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned from a hamstring injury, supported Edin Džeko with Diego Perotti and Cengiz Ünder.

Siniša Mihajlović played his Bologna team in a 4-2-3-1 also. He made some changes according to the previous game. Takehiro Tomiyasu started ahead of Ibrahima Mbaye, as the right-back; Andrea Poli was not in the squad, hence, Mattias Svanberg played as the pivot with Jerdy Schouten. Rodrigo Palacio remained as the lone striker.

High press of Bologna

In the early stages of the game, Bologna pressed high to disrupt the build-up of Roma, as they knew Fonseca’s team would play out from the back. The away team were willing to commit numbers forward to reach numerical equality, preventing Roma from moving the ball comfortably.

When the ball was at the centre, on the goalkeeper’s feet, Bologna at least put four players on the front foot. Given the limited kicking ability of Pau López, despite having five players at the back, Roma were playing out from the back with four only. They seldom played the ball to the keeper in this phase.