“We always build play with three. Maybe you saw three defenders building play... And yes, I certainly did imagine Danso in that defence, and I spoke to him about it. Building with three, with the full-back pushing up or the three centre-backs remaining more static, is not much different. We nearly always build with three. Sometimes three plus two, sometimes with a diamond. It depends.
“Last year we would often have a full-back drop deeper. We defended with three and you didn’t realise. Other times we played with three centre-backs and you thought that was the problem. It’s an option.
“Lots of teams attack with five players as we do. We haven’t come up with anything new. I saw Roberto Mancini doing it, and others too, when we won the Euros. And I liked it a lot. Lots of teams attack with five channels, five attacking players. You either have to be good at sliding across with a four-man defence or you have to push an extra player forward from deep as Thiago often does with [Khephren] Thuram and in other games with [Manuel] Locatelli. It doesn’t change much. That might sound like nonsense but it’s true. It depends on the players.”
That was Daniele De Rossi’s answer when asked if he planned to play with a back three for today's match. The ambiguity in his answer leads one to believe that whether the formation listed on paper is a 4-3-2-1 or a 3-5-2, the formation will be fluid in how the team moves around the pitch. And with Chris Smalling set to depart for Saudi Arabia and Mario Hermoso not yet officially a Roma player, if Roma does deploy a back three, it’ll be a full-back as the third defender.
More and more publications on the peninsula are projecting the 3-5-2, with Angeliño as the third center back with Gianluca Mancini and Evan Ndicka. With the potential shift to a five-man midfield, it’s increasingly likely that the new signing, Alexis Saelemaekers, could make his Roma debut from the opening whistle on the left wing. Opposite him on the right will be Zeki Çelik.
In the central midfield, likely, the usual trio of Lorenzo Pellegrini, Leandro Paredes, and Bryan Cristante remains the starters with Enzo Le Fée out injured. However, there’s some chatter that new signing Manu Koné could get the debut nod over Cristante. Rounding out the XI will be Paulo Dybala and Artem Dovbyk forming the attack, with Matías Soulé being pushed to the bench.
Probable Formation
ROMA (3-5-2): Svilar; Mancini, Ndicka, Angeliño; Çelik, Cristante, Paredes, Pellegrini, Saelemaekers; Dybala, Dovbyk.