Tottenham Opposition Scouting Report: Roma

By Ryan Wrenn | Jul 25, 2017

ROME, ITALY - MAY 28: Daniel De Rossi with his teammates of AS Roma celebrates after scoring the team's second goal during the Serie A match between AS Roma and Genoa CFC at Stadio Olimpico on May 28, 2017 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images) /

Tottenham take on Serie A’s AS Roma in New Jersey on Tuesday evening, and we’ve got everything you need to know about the Giallorossi before the match.

This is the second of three high profile matches Tottenham elected to play on their US tour this summer. They beat Paris Saint Germain 4-2 on Saturday and will take on Premier League rivals Manchester City this coming weekend.

Roma represent a unique challenge among those teams. Whereas both PSG and City might believe their assembly of lavishly expensive players might be enough to see off most opponents, Roma have to be a bit more clever if they hope to earn any sort of advantage against Spurs.

Thankfully for Roma, few qualities are more rewarded in Italian soccer than cleverness — at least in a broad sense.

Whereas Spanish football might rightly stake claim to the home of individualistic, virtuoso football, Italy can pride itself on perhaps the most collective interpretation of the sport. Juventus’ string of titles over the last half decade owes as much to Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Paulo Dybala as the inch-perfect organization both Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri have instilled in the entire squad.

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As it happens, last season Roma came as close as any other team in Serie A has in recent years to dethroning Juventus. They finished four points back from the Bianoneri in 2016/17 — with a superior goal difference at that.

That’s a testament to Edin Dzeko’s best-in-the-league goal haul as well as Luciano Spalletti’s tactical sense. The Italian managed to pull together a team that frequently sold its best players in the off-season — Miralem Pjanić moved to Juventus just last summer — and made a genuine run for the scudetto.

That will not be the team that Tottenham face on Tuesday however. The club deemed it necessary to sell some of its biggest assets in the opening weeks of the transfer window. Antonio Rudiger moved to Chelsea, Mohamed Salah to Liverpool and long-hyped youngster Leandro Paredes to Zenit St. Petersburg. Even Spalletti left to manage Inter Milan.

That money has largely already been spent on an array of players that, while cheaper than the men they replaced, are also definitively not upgrades.

So it is, then, that new Roma manage Eusebio di Francesco will assemble a squad on Tuesday bereft of some of its biggest talent. Stars remain — most notably Radja Nainggolan and Dzeko — but they will have to adapt to a good amount of turnover around them.

Which doesn’t mean that they will be a pushover. Just last week they held PSG to a 1-1 draw in regular time, only to lose to the French giants on penalties. As Spurs themselves witnessed in the first half on Saturday, containing PSG is no mean feat. As with so many other notable Italian teams, organization on both sides of the ball often means much more than the presence — or absence — of individual talent.

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This is a team that has survived several disruptions and exits in recent years and still consistently finished second in Serie A. Spurs then can expect to have their mettle tested Tuesday despite accounts of Roma’s demise.