The two key players could potentially tip the scales when it comes to the coach’s strategic choices. The German player is in fine form, but his utilization from the first minute is not a given.

Once again, Claudio Ranieri may make adjustments to his Roma team’s tactical line-up. After the trials in Napoli and the three-man defense used against Tottenham and Atalanta, the yellow-and-reds’ coach is seriously considering the possibility of returning to a four-man defense against Lecce. Everything will depend on the physical conditions of Mats Hummels and the field position of Gianluca Mancini, two of the topics addressed in the press conference: “Hummels has been training, all is well. Mancini as fullback? Soccer is a subject of constant evolution and devolution. What Mancini does on the right, Ndicka does on the left, why not? “I rule out nothing,” stated Ranieri, who therefore does not shut the door on the possibility of seeing the former Atalanta center on the flank (with Angeliño on the opposite side) and the Hummels-Ndicka duo in the middle. A sort of three-and-a-half defense that made the fortunes of Luciano Spalletti and Alessandro Florenzi who, in that Roma, was the real balance point at a tactical level. “For me it’s easy: four in defense during the defensive phase, three in offense during the offensive phase,” so explained the current national coach back in the now distant 2016. However, Ranieri could upend this logic, considering a strategy of attacking in fours and defending in trios (or quintets), with Mancini huddling next to Hummels and Ndicka, and El Shaarawy (or Saelemaekers) teaming up with Angeliño on the outer lanes. One thing that’s certain, though, is that Roma needs to find a key to swiftly climb out of the lower depths of the ranking where it ended up due to the very technical and tactical misunderstandings between the team and its previous coaches. You didn’t provide any text to translate.