This Roma team is a bit similar to the "Avengers Legion" that Mourinho created at Inter. Smalling, who was banished by Manchester United, turned into "Serie A van Dijk", and Chelsea and Milan abandoned Nemanja Matic and Christante as midfield stalwarts.
Juve voluntarily gave up the renewal of Dybala, it is Jose Mourinho's Messi. Even rarer are Belotti and Spinazzola, two Italy internationals who have been sunk due to injury, and have become winning weapons in the hands of the Portuguese manager.
01. Activate two injury numbers: Italy should issue the boss a badge
A. Bull Bellotti: He really fights
The intensive schedule and frequent injuries did not deal a fatal blow to Roma, which did not have a thick squad. Tammy Abraham and Dybala could not start, and Wijnaldum left early injured, but Bellotti and Spinazzola supported half of Roma's sky.
The former offers a wide range of runs and amazing sustained confrontation, while the latter takes on the role of winger in the opening stages. After Shalawi came on, Spinazzola was relatively close to midfield, using dribbling and passing at his feet to continue to contribute.
Bellotti is in pretty good form and he has a fighter's heart. This wave of strong passes, followed by a split ball Pellegrini won full applause.
Although his teammate's shot was saved, Belotti's passing and advancing in this game made people vaguely see the peak of the Turin big.
Due to frequent injuries, Belotti has experienced a decline in physical flexibility and the quality of his movements to turn around. This time he slipped after taking the ball, which is actually an example.
However, even if his body is not as good as it was then, he still has to do a good job of moving the fulcrum for the team. Christante splits the ball on the flank and puts on Spinazzola, who acts like a winger.
Unfortunately, the last cross was suspected of hitting the arm, but the referee did not give support.
Jose Mourinho's side value the number of people in the back and the defensive, so when counter-attacking, there must be a fulcrum player up front.
The first criterion for Roma to select a striker is not the ability to score, but to hold the ball, fight and advance. Bellotti did even better this game than Tammy Abraham did.
In this game, Belotti felt very well when he picked up the ball, started and pushed, and had the illusion of dreaming back to the top.
Although the strength of this scoreball is slightly less than that of Shalawi, the quality is actually quite high. Unfortunately, the quality of the latter's shots was mediocre and did not pose much of a threat.
b. Walk out of the great left of injury
As can be seen from the statistics, in addition to scoring 1 goal, Spinazzola also had 3 successful passes and 3 key passes. His position on the offensive end is that of a quasi-winger.
A left-wing-back can touch the ball 80 times and concede 19 times in a single game, while the lack of defensive stats also speaks to the trust and privilege Mourinho has given him.
Spinazzola can even be the ball taker in the first point of the front, receiving long passes from the back. Roma have a small number of midfielders, so they rely heavily on the quality of their offensive and defensive transition time to find the quality of the front.
Spinazzola is a right-footed player, but has good passing ability on both feet. Let him receive long passes, not just the bottom, he can take the ball and control the ball himself to organize the attack, but unfortunately this time the cross was cleared by the opponent's front point.
Before Wijnaldum left the field with an injury, Roma arranged for Pellegrini to insert more forward (after Shalawi came on, Pellegrini was much further behind).
The value of Spinazzola is that he can not only pass and pass, but also control the ball and connect locally.
In the opening period, Roma's idea of advancing was to find the front with a long pass, and Spinazzola had the opportunity to attack directly into the box, and there was no chance to pass back to the following defender Nemanja Matic.
There was another wave of cooperation that created excellent chances, but unfortunately Nemanja Matic's pass and Christante's shot missed the goal.
Roma's set-piece attacks are a huge threat, not even from free-kicks and corners, but also from the touch-line up front.
Using the cover of Bellotti in the front and the fulcrum of Pellegrini's second relay in the middle, Spinazzola swam to the back point to complete the attack.
Bellotti suddenly ran away and took away the defensive attention, and Pellegrini in the middle took the ball strongly, bringing the opportunity of Spinazzola at the back point.
There was a bit of luck in the goal, when the ball deflected into the net and allowed Roma to equalise at one point.
It is worth mentioning that if it were not for the referee blowing out Roma's second goal, Spinazzola this time with a good quality cross, Tammy Abraham's header to Christante and scored, which should have helped the home team complete the promotion early.
Fortunately, in the last moments of Rome, Mourinho activated not only the Italian international, but also Dybala.
02. He is Jose Mourinho's Messi: he will be rewarded with a national warrior
Winning doesn't have to be so thrilling: Dybala is Jose Mourinho's Messi
As you can see from Roma's two-legged match against Feyenoord, Mourinho's team advantage is huge.
The number of shots on goal is 50-27, the number of shots on target is 16-8, and the expected goal is an astonishing 7.0 to 1.8!
Roma would have won much more smoothly had it not been for four shots on goal, a penalty missed, and a goal blown off by the referee, while centre-back Smalling was injured and a cross header was caught.
In the final moments of the match, a desperate Roma let Dybala out. The latter played the role of a Messi in the game.
Roma are on the attacking line, with a number of big men covering them, as well as the technical flow of Pellegrini, Shalawi, Spinazzola and Dybala who can play small balls.
This time Shalawi passed to Pellegrini who followed the ball with Dybala. The Argentine star turned and shot in one fell swoop, saving Roma who had gone to the edge of the cliff with a brilliant goal.
This local technique flowed in a row, breaking Feyenoord's defence in succession at the last minute, and Mourinho showed his progress in the field of positional battles.
Tammy Abraham succeeded Belotti to provide impact and confrontation, and Dybala came on as a position to follow his teammates to get the impact box, and it was Dybala's passing efficiency that was captured.
Unfortunately, this time the very threatening shot did not bring a kill, but the Argentine's performance was immediate. I don't know what it would be like if Dybala had the chance to face Juve in the Europa League final.
b. It shall be rewarded with a national gentleman
After this game, Dybala also praised Mourinho: "We know him very well, except for that team (before the final), Mourinho is a champion everywhere.
Mourinho doesn't demand as much from his centre-forwards, but they need to create space under defensive pressure.
At the same time, after Shalawi went to the left wing, Spinazzola's position adjustment can also see Mourinho's details. Dybala also has a large range of movement, just to find opportunities to pass.
Dybala was really in good form, Spinazzola passed the ball after walking to the middle, the former directly shot from distance, but unfortunately was saved by the goalkeeper.
Roma's third goal, which decided the game, was a perfect example of Mourinho's counter-attacking system.
From a long pass at the back to center Tammy Abraham, to Dybala getting the ball back. Pellegrini then headed straight to Tammy Abraham, who crossed and Dybala and Shalawi crossed and the Italian striker delivered the fatal blow.
The fourth goal that sealed the victory was again Dybala's brilliant pass on the counter-attack. Tammy Abraham's first shot into the box did not score, but the follow-up Pellegrini scored to seal the victory.
03. 4 years in Serie A made him understand that it is really not easy to succeed
A. Juve added 15 points: Roma are really too hard to fight for four
With Spinazzola and Bellotti activated, should the Italian national team consider issuing Mourinho a badge? However, Mourinho waited for not good news, but Juventus recovered 15 points.
Although the Portuguese madman said that he has been in Italy for 4 years, not 4 days, and has long known that Juve's points will be added back, the bitterness in it may only be understood by the parties themselves.
Such a change has a greater impact on AC Milan and Inter Milan. They had previously made some rotations in Serie A in preparation for the Champions League knockout rounds, resulting in too many points lost.
In the current situation, Juve are looking more stable in the first four seats, while Roma need to fight Milan to the death.
b. Mourinho has not succeeded: the schedule is dangerous and there is no room for carelessness
As can be seen from the schedule, in the next four Serie A matches, Roma will face Atalanta, 7th in the league, AC Milan in 5th and Inter Milan in 6th.
Just three points ahead of AC Milan, it is really not easy for Roma to hold on to the fourth place in Serie A, and there is almost no room for error.
Perhaps the next month will be the most testing for Mourinho and Roma.
How much oil the team still has and how much magic Mourinho still has depends on the performance of these 40-plus days.
Conclusion:
No one can be sure whether Jose Mourinho will leave Roma this summer. At the beginning, he also led the team at Inter for 2 years, ushering in a new peak in his career.
This trip to Rome, winning the European Cup in the first year, going hand in hand in the second year, can finally get a double happy result, it will take a little less injury, less shot on goal and a little more luck.