After encountering Juve's 3 goals in 7 minutes and the absurd reversal of his own side's missed penalty, Mourinho's side won 6 wins and 4 draws in the next 10 rounds of Serie A, with 4 wins being 1-0!
Was this the beginning of Roma's entry into the Mourinho system? As far as the course of the game is concerned, the mistakes in the back line are still continuous, and the front line is constantly shooting. Mourinho, who has spent a lot of thought on the offensive end, actually does not want to win in this way.
01. How can the sense of positioning be so poor? The Roman lines are too moving
a. The awareness of the defensive line is always difficult: Mourinho is helpless
Mourinho, who uses a three-centre-back formation, also hopes that the back line can alleviate the lack of position awareness after the horizontal number of people increases. At the same time, the team took advantage of the center Abraham's wide range of retraction and counter-insertion, played the rhythm of the acceleration of the side, and found the efficiency of the offensive and defensive conversion.
However, in actual combat, the stability of the Roma defense line is too poor, resulting in many of Mourinho's ideas can not be effectively implemented.
First of all, in this defense, it was originally a job that could be done with a simple kick, and as a result, Manic kicked directly on teammate Christant, causing unnecessary trouble.
Looking at the developments that followed, by the time Sampdoria formed a second attack, Roma's midfield line was already scattered, but the team still had three centre-backs to go under.
If Ibanez saw that there was a Sampdoria striker by his side, so he was right to retreat after half a step forward, then Smalling in the middle of the road had to be the first to come out, and the flank Mancini had to cut off Sensi's pass to Caputo.
However, in actual combat, the Roman backline made all the mistakes that could be made. From Manic's somewhat comical breakout, to Ibanez's sudden retreat, and Smalling's sluggishness.
In the end, it was Ibanez who was in front of him, and Smalling retreated, which was not as good as Ibanez's first step to resolutely grab it. As a result, Manic still slowed down, allowing Caputo to insert the ball and shoot at goal, fortunately playing a little straight.
Roma's defense is a bit of a leak: lack of awareness of protection
Although Roma only had 6 shots on goal, 2 were absolute scoring chances. In contrast, Sampdoria's eight shots on goal were of less high quality.
However, what needs to be seen is that many of Sampdoria's shooting opportunities are really from the poor choice of players when Rome retreats, which is a problem.
Let's take a look at this wave of offensive and defensive transitions, roma players making mistakes in the backcourt and the opponent counterattacking on the spot. At that time, there were 7 people in the Roma backcourt, and the other side was actually only 4 people in the core area.
The problem was that Mkhitaryan was in a spectator position and he didn't properly limit Sabiri in the top of the penalty area.
Of course, after the opponent split the ball on the flank and Sabiri entered the box, it was true that Mkhitaryan was no longer needed to defend himself (what he had to do was to prevent the possibility of the first point taking the ball back to the middle of the road).
But the problem is that the 3 Roma players in the middle of the penalty area have not done a good job of division of labor. In a 3-on-3 situation, Sampdoria striker Sabiri easily picked up the ball and shot at goal, exposing the flaws in the roma defender's personal ability.
02. Abraham's range of motion is large enough: the key is that the foot in the door is too casual
Despite the controversy, Abraham's tactical value and role in Rome grew.
He is characterized by a large range of movements, allowing him to complete deep retracements and then rush back to the front.
After Abraham's retreat, Roma's double front waist inserted one front and one response, and the effect was still good. It is a pity that Zaniolo is injured, otherwise he has a strong ability to advance with the ball and personal breakthrough ability, which can enrich Roma's offensive options.
It is now Pellegrini who is taking on tandem work behind Tammy Abraham, and he also has a good running ability and a certain level of passing.
However, his turnover rate is relatively high, and the level of individual single-soldier breakthrough with the ball is not high.
In this wave of attack, it was Pellegrini who took the ball and split the side, but unfortunately the cross from the flank found the middle of the box, and Abraham failed to play the ball well.
03. Abraham's shooting efficiency: it is difficult for Roma to play 2-0
In Rome, Tammy Abraham is already a star player, scoring 15 goals in Serie A this season, ranking third on the top scorers list.
The problem is that he has missed 17 excellent scoring opportunities, which is also the most prolific current shooting in Serie A, and only Inter center Lautaro can get close to him.
Under the team's current personnel arrangement and tactical system, there are not many opportunities. With a quick forward push on the flank + two forwards, Tammy Abraham also has a good sense of running position in the front line, making it difficult for the opposing defender to limit.
The problem was that Abraham's final goal kick was too average, this time he stopped the ball and did not heed much, adjusted and then shot failed to hit the target.
However, no matter how to complain, it has to be said that Abraham still played a big role in Rome's goal. He withdrew from midfield to do the ball, giving the opportunity to speed up the counter-attack on the flank, and then successfully returned to the box to grab the point and shoot.
This wave of rib-slanted inserts played a good level, and Abraham failed to kick the ball at the back post, but also created confusion, allowing the follow-up Mkhitaryan to shoot and Score, and Roma won the game.
The team was never able to score a second goal, and the backline was always less reassuring. Such a 1-0 is really like walking a tightrope, completely dependent on the opponent's shooting feeling.
Conclusion:
This Roma team really does not have the level of entering the top four of Serie A in terms of strength. The current ranking is already the result of the joint efforts of the top and bottom.
To go further this season, maybe some miracles are really needed. Would you like to believe that Tammy Abraham keeps scoring goals? Maybe that's the case, and Roma will be in next season's Champions League.