How AS Roma’s new attacking trident blended nicely within an archetypal Mourinho structure – scout report

One of the biggest narratives in Serie A over the summer months surrounded the future of the Argentinian  international forward Paulo Dybala. Dybala had been at Juventus since 2015 but consistent niggling injury issues had limited his impact over the course of his time at the club. In the end, his departure from the Turin-based club felt almost apologetic as Juventus withdrew a contract offer that the club had made in October 2021 and declined to negotiate any further, thus accepting that Dybala would be free to leave on a free transfer at the end of the 2021/22 season.

Dybala, however, would not be moving far, as he agreed a deal to sign for a rival Italian side and signed a three-year contract with AS Roma. This move came as the side from the Italian capital recruited a set of players designed to create a squad that they feel, with Jose Mourinho as the coach, will have a very real chance to challenge for the Serie A title this year. Along with the signing of Paulo Dybala we have also seen Roma add experience and depth to their squad with the additions of the Turkish international fullback Zeki Celik from Lille as well as the signings of the experienced midfield duo Nemanja Matic, on a free transfer from Manchester United, and Giorginio Wijnaldum, on an initial loan deal from PSG. In making these signings, Roma have not only added depth and given Mourinho options but created a squad with players that are used to success and who know what it takes to win at the highest level.

The marquee signing, however, is very much Dybala. With the Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan choosing to leave Roma in the summer to sign for Internazionale, there was a creative gap to be filled in the attacking third for Roma. With the addition of Dybala, assuming he can maintain his fitness, Roma have not only filled that gap but upgraded on what they had in the position last season.

With the England international striker Tammy Abraham leading the line for Mourinhos side, the movement and technical quality of Dybala, and the Italian international Nicolo Zaniolo, will be key to Romas hopes of success this season. The concern for fans of the club, however, surrounds the fact that both Dybala and Zaniolo have suffered fairly significant injury issues in their careers to date.

This past weekend saw the opening set of fixtures in Serie A as Roma started the 2022/23 campaign away to to Salernitana. This was the first chance that we have had to see the combination of Dybala, Abraham and Zaniolo in Serie A. In this tactical analysis, which will be a team scout report, we will break down some of the tactics that we saw in this match.

Romas tight and effective attacking trident

While there was no doubt going into the season that Mourinho would favour Abraham as Romas most effective fixed striker at the furthest point of the attacking structure, there was still some question as to the exact role of Dybala and Zaniolo around that position. Indeed, there were genuine questions raised, after the signing of Dybala, as to whether he, Abraham, Zaniolo and the dynamic central midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini could all play in the same team. The line-up for this opening league match sought to put those doubts to bed as all four players started the match.

While Abraham played as the most advanced striker, we saw Dybala and Zaniolo play effectively as dual 10s behind the striker. The width in the attacking phase was supposed to be provided by the wingbacks in the Roma system, Leonardo Spinazzola on the left and Rick Karsdorp on the right. In the end the combination between players in the central areas and the half-spaces were very good although work still needs to be done to ensure that there is genuine and effective width as Roma break into the final third.

In this match, we saw that Salernitana were perhaps less stretched in the defensive phase than they could have been. By having players overloading the central areas or the half-spaces, the opposition will look, as they did so here, to maintain a narrow defensive block. If Roma are able to improve their attacking width then the opposition will be forced to spread out defensively and this will create space centrally that Roma can exploit.

While Abraham is a good striker who will act as the focal point of the attack, it was interesting to note within this match that his movement was far more fluid than we may have expected. The English striker dropped off to show and receive the ball and in doing so he dragged opposition defenders out with him. We then saw Dybala looking to be aggressive with his movements to break beyond Abraham into advanced areas.

Here, we see an example of the movement of Abraham to come deep to receive the ball and the effect that this has on the opposition. As Abraham drops off towards the centre of the pitch he receives the pass but looks at the gap that has been created in the defensive line of the opposition as his marker follows him back towards the ball.

As Abraham receives, we see the interplay between the three most advanced players for Roma as he connects a quick lateral pass to Zaniolo. The ball is then played behind the defensive line and we see the aggressive movement from Dybala to get beyond Abraham to attack the space behind the front line. Throughout this game, the movement from Dybala, in particular, was impressive and effective as he showed a clear understanding of how and when to drop off to find pockets of space or move up to attack gaps or space in the oppositions defensive structure.