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

Roma faced off against Sassuolo at the Stadio Olimpico this past week in what was another interesting week of Serie A football. The game finished 0-0, but Roberto De Zerbi and Sassuolo will certainly be the most disappointed from this outcome as they have been on an incredible run of form as of late, as well as the fact that Roma were reduced to ten men late in the first half.

It was also a good opportunity for I Neroverdi, currently in fourth place, to extend the points gap to four points over Roma who are right behind them, sitting in fifth. Paulo Fonseca was hoping that his side could build on their decent 3-1 victory on Thursday night against Young Boys in the Europa League, after a humiliating 4-0 defeat the week prior to Napoli, however, due to the early red card, they were forced to accept a point.

Sassuolo were also hoping to redeem themselves after a 3-0 defeat to Inter in their previous Serie A game, which was their first defeat of the season; however, they were simply unable to break down Roma’s brilliant defence.

This article will be a tactical analysis of the draw between the two sides. It will be an in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of both sides in their tactics, throughout the game, as well as taking a look at where each team could have improved in their set-up.

Formations and Lineups:

Wholesale changes were made from Portuguese manager Fonseca for their Europa League tie on Thursday; however, only a few changes were made from the side who suffered the heavy defeat to Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli in their last Serie A game.

Sticking with their 3-4-2-1 formation, which has become the default formation under the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk manager, as opposed to the 4-2-3-1, only Marash Kumbulla was brought in replacing the injured Gianluca Mancini. Fonseca did not have much of a choice considering the injury crisis that the club is plagued with, which includes ex-Manchester United defender Chris Smalling.