Two of the most tactically ambitious coaches in Serie A met at the Sinigaglia, Cesc Fàbregas’ Como coming off a defeat to Frosinone before the international break and Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma still unbeaten, and for 54 minutes it was a proper chess match between two very different ideas of how to control a game, before Donyell Malen’s red card turned it into a test of whether Como could break down ten men. They couldn’t, and a 0-0 draw keeps Roma unbeaten and two points behind Inter.

First Half: Roma’s Man-to-Man Trap on Como’s Goal-Kicks

Gian Piero Gasperini set Roma up to press in a high block, going man to man on Como’s goal-kicks, but with a twist in the front line. Donyell Malen and Paulo Dybala, the two front pressers, positioned themselves narrower, onto Jacobo Ramón and Trevoh Chalobah, the split ball-playing centre-backs, leaving Jean Butez free in goal so as not to break the man-to-man marking shape and invite an 11v10 situation further up the pitch.

The idea was simple enough, make Como impatient in these set plays and force the long balls that Gianluca Mancini, Evan Ndicka and Mario Hermoso could defend, and for now Butez chose to clear up-field and bypass the high block. Had Malen or Dybala decided to press the goalkeeper, arcing their runs to cover the short option with their cover shadow, they might have tempted Butez or one of the nearer options to step out and take risks around the penalty area, and that is where the high turnover would have come.

Manu Koné was the presser of the dropping holding midfielder Máximo Perrone, so any central pass from the back was not a free one, but a progressive trap from Roma. Cesc Fàbregas’ side usually create space first and then control possession, but that never made it into the middle third, Roma keeping the build-up in Como’s defensive third.

There was a way out, though. Touch-tight marking meant Nikolaos Douvikas, Nico Paz and Assane Diao, further up the pitch, could draw fouls by turning or rolling their man, and one lapse in concentration from a Roma marker would have given a Como midfielder the space to dribble, turn and progress straight into the final third.

Hermoso Inverts, Gasperini’s Positional Rotations Explained

After 25 minutes Roma started to control the game more with the ball, attacking the space in behind the Como full-backs with the wing-backs Wesley and Nahuel Molina, but the interesting part was in the middle. Hermoso, the central defender, would invert into midfield, with Marten de Roon dropping into the defensive line, drawing out the Como press and unlocking the central space it had been covering, which allowed for numerous blind-side wall passes with a dropping Dybala or Koné for rapid attacks up the pitch.

Como compressed into the centre just a bit too early in reaction to this shrewd Gasperini move, and Roma used the space that cover left behind to play into. It was a different principle, but just as effective as Como’s own strategy has been so far this season, and with the physical advantage over Como, Roma were the more threatening side in possession.

Lorenzo Pellegrini was the link in all of it, operating in between the build-up and progression phases and finding himself, more often than not, in the best positions to deliver the final ball. He had six passes into the final third and set up one big chance in the first half, the clearest sign that Roma’s rotations were giving him the time and space Como’s press was designed to deny.

It was still a very even half, though, with one big chance each. Dybala missed his in front of Jean Butez after six minutes, and Paz was denied by Gollini a minute later, Pellegrini also striking the post from distance, and it was 0-0 at the break.

Second Half: Roma Go Down to Ten Men

Gasperini had already made a change at the break, Matías Soulé replacing Pellegrini, but his plan was torn up nine minutes into the second half. Malen was sent off on 54 minutes for dangerous foul play, a tackle on Como left-back Kaiki, and the high block that had defined Roma’s first half immediately dropped into a mid-to-low block, with Leonardo Balerdi coming on for Hermoso on 61 minutes.

Strangely, against ten men, Como did not use any break-down sequences in possession at all, no rehearsed patterns to pull the Roma block apart, and Gasperini’s side were successful in keeping them out. When Como did get the ball into the box, Pierluigi Gollini was there, so quick to react to every ball coming in, coming off his line and making virtually any kind of save that was needed in that situation.

Fàbregas went to his bench, Caqueret finally making way for Jesús Rodríguez on 66 minutes and Martin Baturina replacing Lucas Da Cunha on 78, while Devyne Rensch came on for Molina on 81, like for like, with Roma needing more energy to see out the final ten minutes. Kempf, Milla and Addai replaced Yan Couto, Perrone and Diao on 88 minutes, and Gasperini sent on Pisilli and Lulli for Koné and Dybala at the death, but tactically nothing really changed.

There was even a change of referee to go with it, Fabbri picking up an injury and fourth official Sozza taking over, with seven minutes added on at the end.

Fàbregas was honest about the result afterwards. “To play against Roma you need a lot of personality, then tactics come into it,” he said, pointing to a Roma side that “comes to take you man to man”, and he felt the first half, 11 against 11, was “the best game we’ve played against Roma since I’ve been here”. But the extra man was where it went wrong. “The sending-off changed things,” he admitted. “We didn’t know how to manage the extra man in the final phase. Sometimes football can’t be explained, we’re two very attacking, proactive teams, a 0-0 isn’t normal.”

Gasperini, unsurprisingly, saw the red card differently. “Malen was held repeatedly before he made the foul,” he said. “The jump he makes is ugly, but if you freeze the frame like that, you can justify anything.” He was content with the point all the same: “In the first half we had excellent chances to score. Then we were forced to defend, and we did it with great clarity and order. When you play 30 minutes with ten men and come away with a draw, that’s fine.” As for Gollini, standing in for the injured Mile Svilar, Gasperini said the team “put him in a position where he didn’t have to make big saves”, praising his work with both his feet and his hands.

Verdict on Como & Roma

For 54 minutes this was two game models cancelling each other out, Roma’s man-to-man high block keeping Como’s build-up pinned in their own third, and Gasperini’s rotations, Hermoso inverting and De Roon dropping in, giving Roma the better of the possession. The red card should have handed the game to Fàbregas, but against a deep Roma block Como had no break-down patterns to fall back on, and Gollini dealt with whatever did get through.

Roma will take a point earned with ten men and stay unbeaten, but Como’s problem is the bigger one to solve. If a side built on controlling possession can’t find a way through ten men at home, what happens when the next team sits deep against them from the first whistle?

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