Exciting moments frozen in time as Cremona's team celebrates after scoring a goal. (Photo courtesy of: independent)
Early in the season, Roma led the table for a while, but their lead was challenged before this round. Inter Milan suffered an unexpected loss, while AC Milan and Lazio won. If Roma wanted to equal the Milan duo, they had to win at the bottom of the table, Cremona. A win would not only put them in a tie for second place with Milan, but also widen the gap of 6 points ahead of Atalanta. However, in the end, Roma lost 1-2, and Mourinho was banned for two matches due to a red card, and will not be able to compete with Juventus in the next round.
Prior to the match, both teams fielded their starting lineups. Roma went with the familiar 3-4-2-1 formation, while Cremona went 3-4-3, sometimes varying to 3-5-2. Mourinho knew the importance of the game, and in addition to the suspended Smalling, Koumoumboula replaced him in the starting lineup, with the return of Wijnaldoum in the midfield position, veteran Matic rotated in, and with Abrahams splitting the lineup due to an injury, Belotti continued to start.
(Starting lineups for both teams. (Photo courtesy of: Whoscored)
At the beginning of the game, Cremona took a defensive stance in the midfield and didn't go full high-pressure stare-down. They didn't rush up when Roma's center backs had the ball, but once the ball was split, they pressed all the way up to form a near man-to-man defense.
(The Roma center back holds the ball and Cremona does not press fully. (Image courtesy of: Eldar Images)
(Start pressing on after parting the edges. (Image courtesy of: Alda Screen)
This defensive strategy continued throughout the game. Early in the first half of the match, Roma players were still able to work together on the right side of the field, but in the face of Cremona's rapid retreat, Roma's receivers were not able to get to the right place in time, and were unable to threaten the opponent's defense effectively.
(Dybala makes the ball to Mancini Jr. (Image courtesy of: Eldar Images)
However, after attacking to the front, Cremona's retreat was quick and the Roma receivers failed to get in position in time to effectively threaten the opponent's defense.
Without Smalling, Ibanez switched from the left to the center, but with Smalling sidelined, Ibanez's traits could not be utilized and Koumboula's lack of ability to hold the ball up and push it forward made the left side of the attack insufficient in the first half, and had to rely on sporadic attacks on the right side of the field and long passes out of the backfield to find a pivot pass, but with a low success rate.
Roma conceded a goal in the first half precisely because of a big ball out to the opposition, and the defense's misplaced stare down led to a brilliant goal from the opposition.
(Ibanez with a big kick out. (Image courtesy of: Eldar Screen)
(Cremona counter-attacks find Roma staring lapses. (Image courtesy of: Elda Pictures)
(Kremona's pass is followed by a do-or-die, and Saju breaks through in the air. (Image courtesy of: Eldar Pictures)
The goal put Roma behind early, and Cremona, who had taken the lead, did not play conservatively. Seeing that Roma couldn't break through their own stares, they pressed even more aggressively, allowing Roma to only pass the ball forward with their big feet, resulting in Roma constantly losing possession.
(Cremona defense presses on. (Photo courtesy of: Elda Screen)
(Forcing Patricio to make a long direct pass. (Image courtesy of: Elda Screen)
In the first half, Roma had just four shots on goal, no shots on target, a pass success rate of just 78% and lost possession as many as 92 times to fall behind 0-1.
In the second half, Mourinho had an argument with the fourth referee and was subsequently sent off by the referee with a red card. Despite the coach being penalized, Roma still failed to find an effective means of response. Facing Cremona's full-field press, the midfield did not give much help to the backfield players except for Dybala's pullback to receive the ball. Once the ball carrier is targeted or wrapped up by the opponent, he often just drops the ball or passes it back, which makes it difficult for Roma to organize an attack.
Seeing that the situation was difficult to change, Mourinho brought in five players between 64 and 68 minutes, including Abraham, Xavi, Solbakken, Matic and Karlstorp, and the formation was changed to 4-2-3-1. After Abraham came out of the game, Roma no longer relied on the strikers as the pivot point of the long passes, but passed the ball directly into the space behind the opposing defenders, and the tactical adjustments were soon to see the effect.
(Cremona defender makes a mistake in clearing the ball. (Photo courtesy of: Elda Screen)
(But Abrahams shoots and kicks. (Image courtesy of: Eldar Pictures)
Despite Abraham's missed big chance, Roma finally equalized a minute later when the same tactic, the same long pass from Junior Mancini, saw wing-back Spinazzola move forward to reverse the offside and, unmarked in the box, push home an easy shot.
(Spinazzola holding the ball unmarked. (Photo courtesy of: Eldar Images)
After the goal, Roma continued to create chances, Dybala shot from the edge of the penalty area was too square, and Xavi succeeded in a reverse offside, but was unable to complete the shot when he tried to push forward to break through the keeper and was plucked to the ball by the opponent.
