Four Things We Learned: Setup thwarts Lazio but derby winner evades Roma

After the Lord Mayor's Show...

Coming off the back of one of the most memorable nights in Roma's history against Barcelona, the Giallorossi were desperately hoping to keep up their momentum going into the Derby della Capitale with fierce crosstown rivals Lazio.

Despite being the superior side and enjoying the better chances - and hitting the woodwork twice - Eusebio Di Francesco's men ultimately had to settle for a 0-0 draw, as the race for the Champions League spots remains extremely tight.

“It wasn’t easy, especially after all the excitement of going through in the Champions League," Di Francesco said. "We’re a bit disappointed about the draw since we went so close towards the end.

"We’ve had our fair share of posts and crossbars this season, these are things that sometimes make the difference. I knew, however, that I couldn’t ask for more from my players tonight."

Roma counter-pressing

Roma's aggressive counterpressing was key in persistently allowing them to win the ball back in advanced locations. By immediately applying pressure to the ball carrier and attempting to block the initial passing routes as soon as they lost possession, the Giallorossi subsequently were able to win the ball back in ideal areas to attack again.

The below example supplies a nice illustration of this, where Roma have surrounded Felipe Anderson, subsequently making it nigh on impossible for him to keep possession as he's rapidly swarmed.

Defensive press setup proves formidable

Di Francesco's pressing structure whenever Lazio looked to pass out from the back worked terrifically in preventing L'Aquila progressing cleanly.

Roma were especially effective when Lazio built up down their right side, as Edin Dzeko would monitor Stefan de Vrij, Radja Nainggolan would push up to Luiz Felipe and Patrik Schick would drop back into a position where he could still challenge Stefan Radu, but also be able to push up to help his midfielders or drop back to help his defenders.

Daniele De Rossi and Kevin Strootman would then lock down Marco Parolo and Lucas Leiva respectively. And to cap things off Aleksandar Kolarov would mark his opposite number in Adam Marusic while Roma's remaining four defenders would spread the duties of marking Ciro Immobile, Anderson and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Fazio freedom to press

Seeing as Roma defended with five defenders in their mid/low block, this crucially meant they usually outnumbered Lazio's attackers. This importantly allowed Federico Fazio or another Roma central defender to have the freedom to intensively press once recognising an opponent free in between the lines.

The image below depicts Fazio doing so to great effect, with him dispossessing Milinkovic-Savic emphatically, for he knows he can charge up and coverage is present behind him.