Swissquote match analysis: Roma edge Feyenoord on penalties after absorbing knockout round play-off

The third meeting between Roma and Feyenoord in as many seasons ended with a third straight success for the Italian team as they progressed into the UEFA Europa League round of 16 following a penalty shoot-out.

Yet as this article brought to you by Swissquote underlines, this was a play-off contest noteworthy also for some intriguing tactical aspects. Here David Adams, the UEFA match observer, working together with UEFA's analysis unit, looks beyond the drama of the spot kicks to assess a trio of key features.

Feyenoord exploiting space in transition

This first video focuses on how Feyenoord sought to exploit Roma's three-man defensive shape. The clips illustrate how, on turnovers, the Roma wing-backs could be detached at times from their defensive unit, which left room for the Dutch side to exploit.

As we see in clip one, the opening goal comes directly from a turnover on the Roma right – Feyenoord's left side – after a failed counterpress from the home side. After Mats Wieffer wins the ball back, suddenly there are six Feyenoord players in the attacking third, advancing on Roma's back three. Within 20 seconds of Wieffer intercepting, Santiago Giménez has put the ball in the back of the net.

The second clip shows Feyenoord spring forward from a deep position with Wieffer sprinting up the pitch and so nearly making it 2-0. The same player is involved again in clip three which offers an example from the second half.

"They have obviously rehearsed for those situations in the first half," explained Adams. "Knowing Roma are very aggressive and put a lot of players in attacking situations, they knew there would be space in wide areas to exploit."

That said, in order to have space to break into, Feyenoord were deep at times in the first half which, for the visitors, had the downside of giving Roma time and space on the ball. "Roma could build momentum in possession and find their passes into the wide areas," said Adams. "In the second half, Feyenoord pressed higher to allow Roma less time to circulate the ball." As a consequence, after 11 shots before half-time, Roma had just one in the second period.

Roma overloading wide areas

The focus of the second key feature is Roma's left flank, where they looked to create 2v1s against the Feyenoord right-back, Lutsharel Geertruida. "Roma looked to overload wide on the left," said Adams noting the role of Lorenzo Pellegrini, the man on the left side of Roma's midfield three. In clip one, it is Pellegrini who carries the ball down that flank and delivers the cross aimed for Bryan Cristante, following his fellow midfielder's central run from deep.

Stephan El Shaaraway's movement and combination play with Pellegrini was a recurring theme of the first half and clip two, which concludes with a shot from Pellegrini, shows the Egyptian winger at work. Roma's left wing-back, Leonardo Spinazzola, advances up the touchline while El Shaaraway provides the movement in behind before then playing the ball back for Spinazzola to lift it inside.

El Shaaraway is involved again in clip three – the Roma equalising goal – as a diagonal switch sets up a 1v1 for him against Geertruida before he lays the ball off for Pellegrini to strike. And for the record, El Shaaraway ranked fourth in the competition this week for passes in the attacking third with 20 (67% success rate).

"Roma are very strong in the 1v1s with the wingers and the central midfielders doubling up on the flanks," said Feyenoord coach Arne Slot afterwards, and his team selection showed his understanding of his threat as he chose a defender, Bart Nieuwkoop, to play in front of right-back Geertruida.

"Feyenoord set up knowing it would happen so have selected a profile of player who can deal with that problem, knowing how to drop back," added Adams and it made for a fascinating, shifting tactical battle. In the first half Roma's attacking players were ascendant, but as already mentioned in the first section, the pendulum swung thereafter as Feyenoord found a way to reduce the threat.

Fluid Roma’s midfield rotations

Roma's fluidity also caught the eye of UEFA's observer as their midfielders constantly rotated, interchanging positions to create overloads centrally or out wide.

Clip one of the video above shows how they create a 4v3 box against Feyenoord's midfield en route to setting up a crossing opportunity. Paulo Dybala and Pellegrini were particularly instrumental in creating opportunities from these rotations while Bryan Cristante, a more natural No6, also made some good breaking runs as seen in the second clip.

Elaborating on their flexibility, Adams said: "The system allows the players to rotate and it causes opponents different problems." UEFA's analysis unit cited several different shapes as players interchanged, with Adams explaining: "They start with one six, two eights and two forwards, but sometimes in the middle that can be two sixes and two tens with one forward, or it could become two sixes, Dybala, and two forwards.

"The only one fixed as a striker is Romelu Lukaku," he added. "The other players are very fluid. Dybala, for example, will go and play in the false full-back position and let the wing-back go high to try to create high overloads.

"Look at Pellegrini too. He has the flexibility to drop in, which allows Dybala to go and play in the 10 position, while over on the left-hand side he is adaptable to making runs in behind the defensive line."

The final word can go to Pellegrini himself, who touched on the different aspects of his role afterwards when he said: "I like to push forward and shoot but I also like to participate in the build-up. The coach tells me to play with freedom. By feeling more free, my qualities come out."

Lessons for player development

"These analysis articles form part of a strategy of translating findings from our senior club and national team competitions into actionable insights for elite youth development. By looking at trends from the Europa League, these articles can be used as an engine for player development across the European landscape."
UEFA's head of technical education & development, Olivier Doglia