Roma has the 4th place in Seria A right now. They are not perfect about anything but they have balance. They usually play with 3-4-2-1 line up. In set defences this formation changes like a 5-4-1.
The team’s length is 16.5 metres in set defences. They don’t try to take the ball with high pressing. If they try to defend in midfield or midfield’s front, they try to keep between the 2 line’s distance with 11 metres and team’s length becomes approximately 22 metres. Wing backs always take position in defense line. They don’t go forward to cover the opponent’s full backs.
When they defend against the opponent, the most important point is right and left wingers’ positionings. They are very important for Roma’s team defending. Firstly they help teammates about defending. They don’t wait in the forward to attack. And the second important point is they take position in half-spaces.
They take position in half-spaces and it means, if the opponent’s any player wants to take the ball between centre midfielders and wingers, he can’t take the ball easily because Roma’s wingers take position in half-spaces, so between their distance with Roma’s centre midfielders decreases. And the opponent’s half-space distance, which one the opponent wants to use, decreases too. Also they can cover centre and wing at the same time. Because they take position in between both spaces. Their distance is not much one of centre or wing.
Wingers take position in half-spaces but more close to centre. They let more space in wings. So sometimes the team plays with like 4 centre midfielders. They give the biggest spaces to the opponent’s full backs. They don’t cover the opponent’s full backs closely. Wingers let them move with the ball more. This positioning is great to cover centre but sometimes the opponent’s full back can support the attack free and when he supports free, the opponent can make a numerical advantage with 1 vs 2 with the full back and winger against Roma’s wing back in the wing.
In set defences, the centre forward takes position in midfield’s front. If the opponent’s defensive midfielder wants to take the ball and make game, he covers him. But he doesn’t cover him closely and so if the opponent’s defensive midfielder has great movement, he can take the ball. If the opponent tries to make game with 2 defensive midfielders, this time one of wingers closes to the centre forward and covers the other centre midfielder. And wingers cover the opponent’s defensive midfielders more carefully than the centre forward.
Roma has 2 centre midfielders. And for covering centre greatly, they must take position smartly. In Roma, they have also 2 wingers who also help defending so it’s an advantage for them. But Roma hasn’t a centre midfielder who has great defending abilities. Usually Pellegrini and Veretout play in centre midfielder position. Sometimes Villar plays instead of Pellegrini. And all these players haven’t great defending abilities. They are not bad but also not very well. Because they can’t defend very well, wingers’ supports are very important for team’s midfield defending.
Defense line has 3 stoppers and 2 wing backs. Wing backs have different characters. Spinazzola plays in the left and Karsdorp plays in the right. They both don’t try to cover the opponent’s full back closely. If the opponent is free in the midfield’s right or left, they don’t cover him. They wait in the defense line. Spinazzola’s dominant foot is his right foot and Karsdorp’s dominant foot is his right foot too. I am telling this because it’s an important point. If the opponent’s winger or full back matches with Spinazzola in a 1 vs 1 position and if his dominant foot is his right foot like Spinazzola, he can pass Spinazzola more easily to use the right side. Because to defend his right foot, defender must use his left foot. If he can’t use his left foot, the opponent can pass him more comfortably from the right side because to cover him, the defender will has to try to cover him with his right foot. But defender can’t cover him well because the opponent try to attack from right side and it pushes the defender to use his reverse foot (in this position his left foot) but his reverse foot is not his dominant foot so he will try to defend with his right foot. But this time he can’t defend in a coordinated way and the opponent can pass him more comfortably.
Spinazzola’s defending is not very good and especially if he matches with the opponent’s right back, he has a problem. I said the right back because usually right backs’ dominant foot is their right foot. Karsdorp is more careful than Spinazzola about defending but he is not very good about defending too. Also both can’t defend the players who have great movement. If the opponent’s forward player comes a little bit back to take the ball, he can take the ball and make game comfortably.
There are 3 stoppers but it doesn’t mean they have 3 great stoppers. They have 3 stoppers because they can cover the defense line only this way. The right stopper is Mancini and the left stopper is Ibanez. Mancini is more aggressive than Ibanez but he can be too aggressive against the opponent too much. Ibanez can make basic mistakes. Both players are not bad too much but sometimes they make serious mistakes. In centre stopper position, Smalling or Cristante plays. Cristante doesn’t give defending extra but Smalling gives. Smalling can mark the opponent’s centre forward better. Roma’s not any stopper can cover the opponent’s forward players who have great movement and close back to take the ball. They give the opponent too much space in the between the defense and midfield lines. I mean the distance between defense and midfield line is not too much but between defense and midfield players don’t have any communication that covers the player who is in between their defense and midfield line.
In transition defences, they don’t have big problems. They have 3 stoppers and also Karsdorp doesn’t support attacks always so he can come back to defense quickly. Spinazzola supports attacks usually and sometimes he can’t come back to defense quickly. Veretout and Pellegrini haven’t high tempo so they can’t come back to defense quickly but their tempo is enough for play in Seria A so it’s not a big problem. Mkhitaryan and Pedro can come back to defense quickly. They help the team about transition defence. In transition defences, sometimes stoppers can’t cover the opponent’s players well and with the opponent’s great passing, the opponent can find score goal chances.
In crosses, they can take the second balls. Because wingers close to the defense line in crosses like centre midfielders. So if the ball comes to the penalty box or around, they have 4 players to take the ball and start transition attack. They haven’t a big problem in defending crosses. Stoppers and wing backs are well about aerial duels.