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

Two prestigious Italian sides met Sunday in a hotly contested match as Roma hosted Inter at Stadio Olimpico. The two clubs have had differing levels of success this campaign; Roma will more than likely miss out on Champions League football for the second consecutive season, while Inter have attempted a hard-wearing if not valiant charge towards the toppling of Juventus’ reign on the Scudetto. This tactical analysis will examine how the two Serie A sides traded blows and wound up each taking away a single point from the match.

Lineups

Both managers will see out their debut seasons at their respective clubs and likely plan for considerable summer transfer business. The most notable absentee in Roma manager Paulo Fonseca’s starting eleven was centre-back Chris Smalling, who sat out until the last 20 minutes of the match with a muscle injury. In the Englishman’s stead, Roger Ibañez started in the middle of the back three/back five defence, with Gianluca Mancini and Aleksandar Kolarov on either side of him. Bruno Peres and Leonardo Spinazzola began as the wing-backs, with Amadou Diawara and Jordan Veretout between them. Lorenzo Pellegrini, Edin Džeko, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan formed the front three.
For Inter manager Antonio Conte, minimal injuries meant he could set up his side more flexibly, and therefore he chose to deploy Romelu Lukaku and Christian Eriksen as subs later in the match. Milan Škriniar, Stefan de Vrij, and Alessandro Bastoni filled out the back three alongside wing-backs Antonio Candreva and Ashley Young. Nicolò Barella, Roberto Gagliardini, and Marcelo Brozović formed the midfield three behind fluid attackers Alexis Sánchez and Lautaro Martínez.

Early buildup strategies

Though both sides, in the end, had relatively similar effectiveness with their buildup and pressing strategies, Roma’s was overall more aggressive to start the match. The figure below shows one of Roma’s many switches of play, which effectively progressed the ball forward promptly.