After sacking Daniele De Rossi and hiring Ivan Juric in a rapid turnaround on Wednesday, Roma are likely to switch to a new system for their upcoming Serie A and Europa League fixtures. Here is how the Giallorossi could line up under the former Torino boss.
In his final game in charge, De Rossi had already begun to shift to a formation closer to Juric’s preferred system. Though he often played a form of 4-3-3, DDR deployed a back three in the 1-1 draw with Genoa prior to his dismissal.
Unsurprisingly, Juric will likely look to deploy either a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2 shape as his go-to, as he did in Turin.
The Croatian likes his defenders to be aggressive, assertive and defensively sound more than anything. Solidifying the back three is a more pressing priority to begin with, rather than looking for ways to play out from the back.
Mats Hummels is likely to become a key player in the Giallorossi defence once he gets up to full match fitness. Evan Ndicka is also likely to keep his spot in the team, while Gianluca Mancini and Mario Hermoso compete for the other spot.
The expectation is that Juric will look to deploy natural full-backs in the wing-back roles, rather than ones who have dropped back from more advanced positions. That means that somebody like Angelino is more likely to be called upon than Stephan El Shaarawy at wing-back.
Rather than the singular holding midfielder that De Rossi would use in a 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1, Juric is more likely to field two. Manu Koné is becoming a firm favourite already, which leaves the likes of Enzo Le Fée, Bryan Cristante and Leandro Paredes all competing for the other midfield spot.
Things become slightly more complicated up top. What is certain is that Artem Dovbyk will be the go-to centre-forward. It then becomes a question of how to get the best out of Paulo Dybala and Matias Soule.
There is an option to play both behind Dovbyk, although one would have to play slightly out of position on the left-hand side. Dybala could join Dovbyk as a second striker, with Soule taking on the trequartista role in a 3-4-1-2.
Or, Juric could sacrifice one of them and call upon either Lorenzo Pellegrini or Tommaso Baldanzi instead.
Possible Roma line-ups under Juric
3-4-2-1: Svilar; Mancini/Hermoso, Hummels, Ndicka; Celik, Paredes, Koné, Angelino; Dybala, Pellegrini; Dovbyk.
3-4-1-2: Svilar; Mancini/Hermoso, Hummels, Ndicka; Celik, Paredes, Koné, Angelino; Soule; Dovbyk, Dybala.