Roma the latest to use Serie A’s new buzzword

It is a word that has been used by a number of coaches in Italy this season to explain problems with a team performance, and last Saturday the now ex-Roma coach Claudio Ranieri became the latest to use it in his pre-match press conference:

“We have some problems with the balance – we are unable to compensate in other areas of the pitch to use the three strikers and above all against certain teams we pay for it. It is up to me to make adjustments.”

That word is ‘balance’, more specifically between the offensive and defensive aspects of the game. Ranieri was commenting in light of the ease in which Shakhtar Donetsk managed to score three away goals in their Champions League tie last Wednesday evening, where he started with Jérémy Menez behind Francesco Totti and Mirko Vučinić as his front three in a 4-3-1-2.

As ever when issues occur with the balance of a team, the solution is rarely restricted to how many forwards are on the pitch. Midfield is just as important, if not more so, than who is up-front. Against Shakhtar, Roma had Rodrigo Taddei, Daniele de Rossi and Simone Perrotta manning the central area. Taddei and Perrotta are nominally attacking players, although the latter has precious little end product to show for all his effort. With the two forward players not offering a great deal of defensive coverage, and trequartista Menez not being renowned for his hard work, the choice of players in midfield was probably not the best for a side with Shakhtar’s ability – the Ukrainians became one of those teams that make Roma pay for their attacking line-up.

Ranieri warned at forthcoming adjustments pre-match, and come the time of the Genoa game he did just that. De Rossi was absent through suspension, while Menez and Taddei were benched. Matteo Brighi was drafted in as a like-for-like replacement for the former and Leandro Greco added slightly more defensive nous in place of the attack-minded Taddei. The important selection, however, was the man that came in for Menez as the trequartista – Fábio Simplício. The Brazilian combines creativity with a reasonable work ethic, and ensured that without the ball he tracked back to join his midfield, meaning Roma did not have three players failing to provide defensive effort, and had at least nine men behind the ball.

It worked superbly – the team were leading 3-0 after 52 minutes. Unfortunately, Ranieri reversed one of the changes he made by substituting Simplício for Menez when the score was 3-1. Genoa started to find a lot of space in front of the Roman defence, bagged a goal soon after and eventually completed an incredible comeback to win 4-3.

It was a bizarre substitution, one that cost him his job (or, at least, forced him to resign) – Ranieri seemingly found the balance of the side by using a midfielder who will work hard as a trequartista, and obtained a healthy lead in doing so. They did not need to chase the game, and Menez should really have come on for Totti or Marco Borriello in order to maintain that balance.

Nevertheless, there is a lesson to be learned. With his original selection, and the outcome of the game post-Menez introduction, Ranieri confirmed the difficulty in keeping defensive order when three very offensive players are used in forward areas.

Similar problems north of Rome

Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri had a very similar problem with the same 4-3-1-2 system. He made every effort to include Ronaldinho in his line-up, but the Brazilian’s inability to put in a good performance as a trequartista, combined with his chronic lack of work without the ball, led to Allegri getting rid of the World Cup winner and trying somebody else.

As well as trying Clarence Seedorf and Kevin-Prince Boateng in the trequartista position, Allegri fiddled with the composition of his midfield in an attempt to stop the team leaking goals, particularly on the counter-attack. There were a number of games where three defensive midfielders were used (Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini and Mathieu Flamini), and although there were some good results, namely the derby win over Inter, it did not take long for the coach to cotton on to the fact they struggled to score goals with such a lack of invention in midfield.

He eventually accepted that Andrea Pirlo was required, but moved him from his position in front of the defence, where he has made his name for the past eight years, and allowed him freedom to move forward. Ambrosini took Pirlo’s old position in front of the defence, Boateng became the preferred choice as trequartista (thanks mainly to his abilities defensively) and balance was restored to the team until injuries forced Allegri to change once again.

These injuries led him to turn to three offensive players in attack, an idea he ditched with Ronaldinho. Robinho became the trequartista, and he has been a great success thus far, surprising everybody with his energy and sacrificial running. Yet Milan are still vulnerable defensively as a result of the increased offence, especially on the break (as Tottenham demonstrated in the Champions League), and will continue to be until Boateng is able to play regularly behind the strikers once more.

Balance not just a problem for the big teams

Further down the league, Fiorentina boss Siniša Mihajlović was complaining about the balance of his team as early as Week 3 of the season. After losing to Lazio in September, he switched from 4-2-3-1 (where a forward in Adrian Mutu played behind the striker) to 4-3-3 for the following game against Genoa to provide an extra man in midfield. They drew 1-1, but instead of sticking with it, Mihajlović returned to 4-2-3-1, and as such went back to the patchy results that saw the club lingering around the relegation zone during the first part of the season. Since January, he has committed to the team playing 4-3-3, with three central midfielders – two defeats in 10 games suggest he should have made the change permanent a little sooner.

‘Balance’ – Serie A’s latest buzzword that is sweeping right across the top division.

Follow Just Football’s Italian football columnist David Swan on Twitter.

(picture via Maximus’78 on Flickr)

AC Milan, AS Roma, Fiorentina, Italian Serie A, Italy