Roma Femmenile: Why they are currently leading the Serie A title hunt
When looking at Serie A Femminile this season, it is not hard to notice that there has been a significant shift at the summit of the league, with the champions of the last five seasons, Juventus, on the brink of seeing their run come to an end at the hands of Roma.
Anyone who has watched the women’s game in Italy over the last few years will testify that Roma’s rise to the top has not come out of the blue, with their growth and development as a club evident to everyone and it simply being a case of when and not if they would make it to the top.
The tactics that they have been using under head coach Alessandro Spugna, who was picked out in the Total Football Analysis “23 for 23” magazine as one to watch this year, have provided interesting viewing both domestically and in the Champions League (where they have reached the quarter-final stage).
As each week has gone by, and there is no doubt that, wherever fans look, there are examples of good work on the training ground and a team in unison who are very much on course for a first ever Serie A title.
Defensive setup
In their own third of the field, Roma’s focus has primarily been on maintaining a robust shape and making themselves hard to beat. This has been helped by them deploying the same players in the majority of their games, with partnerships between players formed and understandings of each other’s roles clear to see.
Strong recruitment has been a key element in making this possible, because what Spugna has done well is to identify what he already had from the likes of Elisa Bartoli and Elena Linari and then add what would bridge the gaps, and the fact that his first signing last summer, Bayern Munich defender Carina Wenninger, has slotted in well seamlessly to their back line is testament to the fact that Roma do their homework and have a clear picture of the profile of player that they need.
“Although her infusion into the team was more gradual than, for example, fellow defensive signing Moeka Minami, the Austrian has over time begun to transmit her experience in the process of becoming someone Spugna can depend on.”
Samuel Bannister, @ASRomaWomen columnist (@SamBanno1)
When considering that Roma have the best defensive record in Serie A this season, with just 10 goals conceded in 15 matches, it is clear that they have found a successful balance at the back and have players who are comfortable with what they are being asked to do, and having that quality has given them a solid foundation on which they have then built the rest of the team.
The transitional phase
Once they win the ball at the back, Roma’s instantly look for a way to play the ball out from the back, and that is another reason that they always need to have different types of players in their defensive line.
Spugna also alternates their starting formations as required and has shown flexibility with his game plans, with Roma changing between a back four and a back five throughout the season, and the fact that they have looked comfortable in both setups shows again the hard work that is being done on the training ground to prepare the team in the best possible way.
In basic terms, Spugna wants his team to play on the front foot and dominate games, with a proactive approach to matches, and having that mentality means that their transitions have to be executed well in order to give them the best possible opportunity of playing at speed and never allowing their opponents to close them down.
Once again, Spugna has demonstrated this season that he has a specific plan for this, with his side always aiming to control the midfield and use it to keep the ball moving around the pitch, and the success that they have with this is because they have players in the side who are happy to rotate into different roles and alternate who will push forwards and who will sit back (shown below).
Two names worth mentioning in this aspect are Manuela Giugliano and Andressa Alves, who have demonstrated this season that they are both solid defensive players and can score goals too, and their combined range of passing means that, whichever position they are both in, transitions are fluent and Roma are always able to create chances on the field.
Giugliano in particular has arguably been Roma’s most influential player this season, with her able to send balls either across the ground or through the air with unerring accuracy (shown below), and the fact that she was Roma’s top assister last season (with eight) highlights how important she is to their ability to create and score goals.
With Vicky Losada, a defensive midfielder by trade, now signed from Manchester City, it seems like that Giugliano will be given even more licence to break forward and work with those ahead of her, and keeping her fit will be essential if Roma are to have any chance of maintaining their title hunt.
The forward line
Whilst the build-up play is always a vital element of Roma’s tactics, they also need to have players who can convert those opportunities, and that is where the forward line come in. Spugna’s system dictates that three players are needed in the final third in order to maximise their offensive potential, and those who play at the top of the pitch are relied upon with equal measure to put the ball into the back of the net.
However, as with all aspects of their play, tactics play a major role in how they use the ball and find ways to break their opponents down.
The signing of Valentina Giacinti in the summer was seen as a masterstroke by many fans and analysts of Italian women’s football, because she added guaranteed goals and a consistent goal threat and was someone that could be used as a target player if Roma wanted to play more directly.
Last season, she scored a combined 10 goals for AC Milan and Fiorentina, the latter of whom she joined on loan last January, and, whilst she did OK there, she was always in competition with Daniela Sabatino for one position in the team.
This season though, with Roma signing her to be their main centre forward, she has looked fresh, full of confidence and back to her best, and that has come because, once again, Spugna did his research and knows how to get the best of out her.
However, it is not just her goal threat that Roma have benefitted from, because she has also been used to link up play when needed and has played in a very free role, constantly dropping back to work with those behind her (shown below) when they need to resort to shorter passes, and that is an element of her game that Spugna has done well to bring to light as the campaign as gone on.
Nevertheless, as a striker, she does need to find the back of the net to be considered a successful signing, and the fact that she is their current top scorer in the league with nine goals (FBref) indicates that a goalscoring instinct and attacking potency has been just as present in her performances.
With Giacinti dropping back though, that did risk leaving the final third unoccupied at times, but Roma have a way of compensating as Spugna constantly pushes his wingers forward and asks them to be the primary targets for passes up the field (shown above).
As a result, both Emilie Haavi and Annamaria Serturini, who have been the first choices in the wide forward roles, have been seen receiving high passes and accessing the areas behind opposing defences on plenty of occasions this season, and Sophie Roman Haug and Benedetta Glionna, as the other two primary options in those areas, have been just as dangerous.
This has led to an inverted triangle at times, which might appear odd given that Giacinti was signed to score goals. However, what Spugna has done is to sign the right players for each role and then given them specific instructions on what to do in every situation of the game, and the fact that they now have clear ball progression routes and ways to build phases of play shows how that tactical clarity and ability to get the finer details of their play right is what has got them to the top of the table.
Can they win the league?
Before the start of the season, many would have fancied Roma to be near the top of the league and pushing Juventus all the way, just as they did last season when they finished second and five points behind Joe Montemurro’s side. However, not many would have predicted that the teams would actually have swapped with each other, and yet that is exactly what has happened.
It is worth mentioning that Roma have already played Juventus twice this season (both matches ended in victories for the Turin side), so the fact that they have suffered defeats to their closest title rivals and are still a significant distance ahead of them means that they are picking up results in other games, even when they aren’t playing at their best.
Having that ability to win scrappy games and keep securing points is what title successes are built on, so Roma are playing like a team full of confidence and who believe in what they are doing.
Juventus will not go away and will keep fighting until the trophy is mathematically beyond them, but there is little doubt that it is Roma who are very much in the driving seat as things stand.