AS Roma Football Formation

Lineup (4-3-3)

De Sanctis · Benatia · Castan · ↑ Balzaretti ↑ · ↑ Maicon ↑ · De Rossi · ↕ Strootman ↕ · ↨← Pjanic →↨ · ☼ Totti ☼ · ☼ Florenzi ☼ · ↑← Gervnho ↓

Rudi Garcia's A.S. Roma 2013/2014
by Trequartista



Base formation is displayed with arrows showing offensive movement, which nevertheless remains fluid and flexible.
☼ = all over, Totti slowly and in periods, Florenzi basically all the time.

Notice the quite narrow shape of the whole defence, CB's close to each other and De Rossi stays close as well to tighten up the space and to retain the shape and compactness, also to keep up the communication as good as possible.

Both the CB's can wide up in possession(last third) to intercept long balls better while the SB's are upfront, De Rossi stays centrally and close to the CB's to prevent holes in the center which could be penetrated with long through balls.

Pjanic moves deeper to make the build-up play easier when needed, but mainly stays more offensive to unburden Totti from redundant runs so Totti can stay ahead and move more horizontally to keep up the fluid play in offence.
If Totti decides to go deeper Pjanic can make a run forward, better link-up play between the two compared to the last two seasons.
Strootman the Dutch powerhouse is an absolutely pressing beast and his tackling is precise and astonishing, he's the link player in midfield and tactically smart.

Won't go into detail about Totti here, his passing(especially one-touch) abilities are unmatched same as his vision, every team-mate knows what to do when the master has the ball or will get it.
Gervinho is a real threat for quick counters and can demoralize a tired opponent, players can't handle his pace and quick direction changes, another thing is that he can stay upfront alone and fight for long balls while Totti sits deep to launch counters.
Ljajic is more gifted with technique and overview, I guess he can be an option to replace a tired Totti without changing the system, so he can play centrally or on the wing, off course Borriello and a fit Destro can turn this into a more usual 4-3-3 with a regular CF upfront.

Before I forget, Castan can play solid long balls from the defence, quite precise so far this season, and De Sanctis talks a lot on the pitch, not that technically gifted but important for the defence and moral.

Should be enough to have a quick overview, important basic tactical points are covered, to see more pls watch Totti and the Roma, cheers.