AS Roma Vs Cagliari [4-2] Serie A 2026/2027: How Gian Piero Gasperini Tactics Turned Defensive Roles Into Attacking Weapons - Tactical Analysis

AS Roma hosted Cagliari at Stadio Olimpico for their ninth game of Serie A 2026/2027; the encounter finished with an entertaining and dramatic 4-2 win for I Giallorossi.

It is a win that serves Roma well to keep following the top two (Lazio and Inter Milan) tightly, waiting for one of them to drop points soon.

For now, Roma are just four points away from the top two, and if they succeed in keeping their current run of form going, we could see them in the top spot very soon.

Roma need to remain focused in the coming fixtures, as any loss of points might impact their chase for the top spots significantly, knowing that the tough schedule, including numerous UEFA Champions League fixtures, requires a lot of effort, both mentally and physically.

So far, Gian Piero Gasperini has been dealing well with the requirements of both competitions, as he has been using intelligent rotation to keep his players fit.

However, it will be more crucial to maintain this intelligence in terms of player choices in the coming period, knowing that Roma face teams like Manchester United and PSG very soon, with Serie A fixtures in between.

For Cagliari, this loss leaves the team in 10th, with four losses, one draw, and four wins.

Cagliari have got the potential to earn more points in the coming fixtures as they are becoming very tough to beat this season under the management of Fabio Pisacane, who has made this side more powerful and organised defensively, while remaining capable of hurting any team from an attacking perspective too.

In this tactical analysis, we focus on Roma’s increased use of defensive players in attack, their intelligent positioning and interpretation of such roles to be useful in terms of assist-making and goalscoring.

AS Roma Vs Cagliari Lineups & Formations

AS Roma Lineup Vs Cagliari

Gasperini started the match in a 3-4-3 formation, with Pierluigi Gollini in goal and a defensive line of three centre-backs: Gianluca Mancini on the right, Evan Ndicka in the centre, and Konstantinos Koulierakis on the left.

The midfield line featured Nahuel Molina and Emanuele Lulli as left and right wing-backs, with Bryan Cristante and Marten de Roon as central midfielders, and both Niccolò Pisilli and Matías Soulé as wide playmakers in support of the main striker, Santiago Castro.

Cagliari Lineup Vs AS Roma

For Cagliari, Pisacane relied on a 3-4-2-1 formation using Elia Caprile as a goalkeeper, a defensive line made up of Zé Pedro, Yerry Mina, and Juan Rodríguez as centre-backs, with Yukinari Sugawara and Adam Obert as wing-backs.

The midfield was formed of Alessandro Romano and Alessandro Deiola as central midfielders, Michel Adopo and Alieu Fadera as wide playmakers, and M'Bala Nzola as the main striker.

Roma Defender Penetrations & Cagliari Defensive Errors

Due to the difficult and intense period Roma are going through, they had to rotate the squad in some of their games.

In this match, Gasperini decided to avoid starting with Donyell Malen, Wesley França, and Mario Hermoso.

Gasperini relied on Pisilli as a left-wing playmaker, as he did on many previous occasions, while leaving Rodrigo Mora on the bench since he didn’t convince yet.

For Cagliari, the formation put on paper can be misleading, as they defended with five players in this match, with four in midfield and only Nzola forming the first line of pressure.

This was done to help the team avoid awarding space to Roma, as Fabio Pisacane was aware of the opponent’s attacking prowess.

Despite the defensive compactness of Cagliari and their attempts to avoid surprising Roma attacks, Cagliari failed to prevent the penetrations of Mancini from the right wing, as Fadera, his direct opponent, failed to follow him.

In fact, Fadera was reluctant to keep following Mancini, and that was the first mistake.

As Mancini relied on playing one-two combinations with the closest teammate before moving towards the box, the space that Mancini attacked without the ball should have been covered in this case.

Cagliari could have studied such forward movements from Mancini since this is not the first time he has attempted them.

By studying such movements, Pisacane could have instructed his players to always cover for Fadera whenever he loses Mancini and whenever the latter passes the ball and moves forward.

In this action, it was Romano who moved close to Mancini inside the box, but his attitude was not as aggressive as needed; he kept following Mancini from afar, and neither tried to close him down nor prevent him from shooting.