A.S Roma may not have gotten off to a perfect start to the season having drawn their opening two games of the season, however over the corresponding two fixtures in Serie A and the UEFA Europa League the Romans have found their attacking stride.
It's still too early for PTSD amongst the Romanisti to have completely dissipated from the way last season unfolded, but new manager Paulo Fonseca has clearly started to work his influence onto the squad.
One dimensional under Di Francesco
Too many times during the stint of Eusebio Di Francesco's time in Rome the attacking play was blunt, and ridiculously one dimensional. The majority of play would solely rely on the full-backs to build from the back putting Aleksandar Kolarov firmly in the quarterback role of the side. Any armchair manager can tell you in 2019 that keeping that method of play is unsustainable.
The refreshing aspect of Roma's play has been that the attacks have been incredibly varied, and the attacking movements are night and day in comparison.
Over the last two games Roma has truly exploded in an attacking sense having scored eight goals over the 180 minutes against U.S Sassuolo and Istanbul Başakşehir F.K. With five different goal scorers contributing over that time they're not relying on any one person to carry the load, and are making all the attacking players feel important in the system.
In order to understand the Giallorossi's new-found attacking verve let's look back at their 45-minute demolition of Sassuolo last Sunday in what was their best half of football played in several years.
Analysis of Goals
Bryan Cristante: A.S Roma 1-0 U.S Sassuolo
Almost transformed from last seasons version of himself, Bryan Cristante has been the opposite of the slow, ponderous, and indecisive player of last year. He has carried Roma's play in the double pivot role and sprayed some excellent passes around. Starting off the parade of goals was a corner kick, but the attacking play leading up to it deserves the merit.
Alessandro Florenzi fed Justin Kluivert just outside the halfway line as he tucked slightly inside the pitch to receive the ball. This is where his first touch was important. He deftly touches the ball into the path of Edin Dzeko, but also notice Henrikh Mkitaryan providing another option drifting in from the left wing. This exchange takes out four Sassuolo players.
Next is Dzeko then with the awareness to spot Lorenzo Pellegrini's run at the top of the image, who's somehow on the right wing, and from there the entire pitch opens up.
Pellegrini's cross is partially blocked but finds Dzeko who then does excellently to touch the ball down, and takes everyone in defence out to get a shot off. It is excellently saved by the Sassuolo keeper, but this entire action then leads to the corner.
The corner is then whipped in from Pellegrini, who gets his first of three assists on the evening. The defender is draped all over Cristante but then pushes through to beat three opposition players to the ball and hammers home the header.
Edin Dzeko: A.S Roma 2-0 U.S Sassuolo
While it may be the easiest of the goals of the evening for Roma the build up play is still admirable. The chemistry between Kolorov and Dzeko only appears to be building in their third season together.
After some immense pressure, Roma pushed Sassuolo deep into their own half. Starting the move off is the much maligned Federico Fazio, who sweeps the ball out to the flank for Kolorov. After playing it back and forth with Jordan Veretout at the edge of the box Kolorov then has time to pick his head up and survey his options in the box.
With some incredibly slack defending Kolorov has four options inside the box to pick out. Under Di Francesco, this sort of attacking move would not have occurred as the winger would generally be tucked in beside the full-back.
Dzeko appears to have a tap in, but notice that he has two defenders on him with a third hovering around to cover his run, and will end up bursting through in what is a brilliant piece of movement to finish off a sensational cross by Kolorov.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan: A.S Roma 3-0 U.S Sassuolo
A quick hit shortly after the second goal, but an excellent piece of counter-attacking play by the Giallorossi. Initially, the ball is popped up in the air by Cristante around the middle of the pitch.
Dzeko positions himself excellently in front of the defender, but it is the awareness to notice that Pellegrini has already begun his run inside of him before the ball even drops down.
The instinct of Pellegrini to see the huge gap in the middle combined with Dzeko's perfectly cushioned header down is great attacking instincts from the pair.
From there a great touch sets up Pellegrini to control the pass, and wait for Mkhitaryan to overlap him. Pellegrini then weights the pass through beautifully, which Mkhitaryan lets roll across him then pile drives low and hard to score on his debut. Mkhitaryan still has a lot to do first by taking out the defender then beat the keeper short-side from over 12 yards out.
Justin Kluivert: A.S Roma 4-0 U.S Sassuolo
Arguably the best goal of the season, and certainly from a team perspective is Kluivert's first goal of the year.
Starting the move from their own goal-line Mkhitaryan, Veretout, and Kolarov all play a part in advancing up the pitch with Kolorov winning the ball back, and Mkhitaryan/Veretout playing a one-two with each other.
It should be noted Mkhitaryan's position at the start of the move, and how far he is tracking back to break up the play.
The next piece of magic comes from Veretout having the intelligence to follow Mkhitaryan's run and expertly pass the ball up to Pellegrini in the free space forward.
In another piece of great covering, Dzeko is filling in for Mkhitaryan at right-wing while he pushed back to help the defence.
The real piece of magic is then performed by Pellegrini, who in this instance is doing his best Francesco Totti impression in the match. He takes completely out of the ball with his first touch and then swings in an incredible ball to completely spring Kluivert in behind the opposition defence from the halfway line.
Kluivert deserves a lot of credit for perfectly timing his run and then composing himself with that much time and space to slot the ball home with keeper Andrea Consigli rushing out at him.