Serie A 2020/21: Roma vs Juventus – tactical analysis

The second round of the Italian Serie A offered some exciting games, including the derby between Roma and Juventus. What was expected to be an interesting meeting turned out as an intense tactical battle between the two coaches, that started awfully for Juventus and ended up in a disappointment for Roma.

The 2-2 end result doesn’t reflect the real efforts that the players put on the pitch but seems like a fair ending to a game full of ups and downs for both teams.

It took quite some time for the new coach Andrea Pirlo to set-up his team and adjust to the Giallorossi’s intense pressing strategy but once Juventus got used to their approach they slowly but surely made their way through and gained back confidence.

Two handballs resulted in penalties for each team, which the regular penalty takers Jordan Veretout and Cristiano Ronaldo converted into goals without hesitations while their second goals came as a reflection of the teams’ repeating mistakes throughout the game.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine both teams’ approaches and how Paulo Fonseca’s tactics caught the Bianconeri by surprise. We will also see how Pirlo’s half-time analysis helped in boosting Juventus’ performance and what changed in their actions in order to get the one point.

Line-ups

Fonseca set-up his team in a 3-4-2-1 formation in possession with Antonio Mirante on the goal behind a three-man defensive line of Gianluca Mancini, Ibañez, and Marash Kumbulla. The central midfield consisted of Lorenzo Pellegrini and Jordan Veretout, while the wide areas were covered by Davide Santon and Leonardo Spinazzola.

This time Roma’s attack looked differently than their first fixture against Hellas Verona, with Edin Džeko being back in the starting XI being supported by Pedro, who just joined from Chelsea, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan from behind.