Rome Derby was fun. 
Roma really were dire in the first half. Going to a four-man defence was a logical call from Andreazzoli, as you don't really need three CBs to mark Klose playing up by himself. However, packing the midfield seemed a very odd move. It meant Roma were trying to take Lazio on where they are strongest and with Roma playing in an unfamiliar manner. That ain't a recipe for success and, sure enough, Roma's midfield couldn't do anything, despite having the extra man in there, so Lazio had a spare man or two to play with in other areas of the pitch.
Roma were also terribly chaotic when it came to defending in the system they started with. Bradley and Torosidis didn't seem to have a clue who was meant to be responsible for Lulic, De Rossi didn't seem sure if he was meant to be stepping forward to confront Hernanes and Pjanic wasn't working anything like hard enough to put pressure on Ledesma.
I thought Roma's main problem in the first half was that they were trying to play too quickly. Now, it being a Derby, Roma being in poor form and going behind made it understandable that Roma were hasty, but it still gave them next to no chance of making the system work. They needed to hold the ball deep for long enough to allow the fullbacks to get high up the pitch and stretch Lazio a bit (or at least make Lazio make a decision whether to move wider, allowing more space in the middle, or to keep it tight and leave space in wide areas), but Roma kept rushing forward before Lazio were stretched at all, which meant it was easy for Lazio to create situations where Roma players were suddenly pressed by a couple of opponents and left with no passing options. It was glaringly apparent that they needed Pjanic to be playing deeper to facilitate holding the ball long enough for the team to get in position to mount a worthwhile attack.
Roma didn't wake up until the Hernanes penalty, though I thought Roma going to something more like 4-3-3 allowed them move the ball a bit quicker and make life a bit harder for Lazio. If Hernanes scored the penalty, I have little doubt that Lazio would have seen the game out comfortably.
Frankly, if the whole penalty incident just hadn't happened, I'm far from convinced Roma would have managed to lift themselves sufficiently to get back in the game.
Roma really were dire in the first half. Going to a four-man defence was a logical call from Andreazzoli, as you don't really need three CBs to mark Klose playing up by himself. However, packing the midfield seemed a very odd move. It meant Roma were trying to take Lazio on where they are strongest and with Roma playing in an unfamiliar manner. That ain't a recipe for success and, sure enough, Roma's midfield couldn't do anything, despite having the extra man in there, so Lazio had a spare man or two to play with in other areas of the pitch.
Roma were also terribly chaotic when it came to defending in the system they started with. Bradley and Torosidis didn't seem to have a clue who was meant to be responsible for Lulic, De Rossi didn't seem sure if he was meant to be stepping forward to confront Hernanes and Pjanic wasn't working anything like hard enough to put pressure on Ledesma.
I thought Roma's main problem in the first half was that they were trying to play too quickly. Now, it being a Derby, Roma being in poor form and going behind made it understandable that Roma were hasty, but it still gave them next to no chance of making the system work. They needed to hold the ball deep for long enough to allow the fullbacks to get high up the pitch and stretch Lazio a bit (or at least make Lazio make a decision whether to move wider, allowing more space in the middle, or to keep it tight and leave space in wide areas), but Roma kept rushing forward before Lazio were stretched at all, which meant it was easy for Lazio to create situations where Roma players were suddenly pressed by a couple of opponents and left with no passing options. It was glaringly apparent that they needed Pjanic to be playing deeper to facilitate holding the ball long enough for the team to get in position to mount a worthwhile attack.
Roma didn't wake up until the Hernanes penalty, though I thought Roma going to something more like 4-3-3 allowed them move the ball a bit quicker and make life a bit harder for Lazio. If Hernanes scored the penalty, I have little doubt that Lazio would have seen the game out comfortably.
Frankly, if the whole penalty incident just hadn't happened, I'm far from convinced Roma would have managed to lift themselves sufficiently to get back in the game.
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