Roma have a new left-back among their ranks after Angelino arrived on loan from RB Leipzig for the next six months, which will also be Leonardo Spinazzola’s last at the club.
When not injured, Spinazzola has generally been Roma’s main left-back since he joined from Juventus in 2019, but for the last six months of his contract in the capital – which will almost certainly not be extended – he will have a new competitor for the starting spot.
Angelino is a new Roma player and will offer Daniele De Rossi a different profile for the position, since he is left-footed and Spinazzola is right-footed.
But how exactly have the two players been getting on so far this season?
Here, Giallorossi Yorkshire investigates the statistics of Angelino and Spinazzola from their performances in the Turkish Super Lig for Galatasaray and Serie A for Roma respectively this season.
Attacking contributions
There is only one place to start and it is the problem that has been most evident with Roma’s full-backs on either side this season: crossing.
Spinazzola has been averaging 1.6 successful crosses per 90 minutes and 4.1 inaccurate ones, whereas Angelino’s averages are 1.8 successful crosses and 3.7 unsuccessful.
While for Angelino the success rate is still lower than half, he edges Spinazzola for useful crosses and makes fewer unsuccessful ones than his new teammate.
However, Spinazzola has made two assists this season (which equates to 0.2 per 90) and scored one goal (0.1 per 90), in contrast to Angelino’s single assist and zero goals.
Indeed, Spinazzola seems to be slightly more active around the opposition box altogether, beating Angelino for shots attempted (0.7 compared to 0.6) and those that ended up on target (0.3 compared to 0.1).
Spinazzola has also outranked Angelino for accurate long balls per 90 (1.9 compared to 0.9), but the Spaniard averages more accurate short passes (32.6 compared to 31.9).
That said, Angelino is dispossessed three times as often as Spinazzola (0.6 per 90 compared to 0.2).
Another stronger asset for Spinazzola is his dribbling; he completes 1.1 dribbles per 90, whereas Angelino only completes 0.3.
Defensive contributions
However, Angelino appears to offer more defensively, beating Spinazzola for tackles (1.5 compared to 0.9), interceptions (1.6 compared to just 0.3), clearances (1.2 compared to 0.7) and aerials won (0.7 compared to 0.5).
They have both been dribbled past as frequently as each other, 0.7 times per 90 minutes.
In terms of blocks, both stop the same frequency of crosses (0.3 per 90), but Spinazzola blocks double the number of shots Angelino does (0.2 compared to 0.1) and Angelino blocks double the number of passes Spinazzola does (0.6 compared to 0.3).
Conclusion
On the whole, both players have expressed different strengths and weaknesses this season, which may allow De Rossi to pick and choose which one would be better for different matches with specific instructions.
There are some encouraging numbers in Angelino’s underlying data, most notably in the defensive phase, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to Serie A.
The fact he has played in the Champions League recently is also promising about the level he can strive to.
At the very least, Spinazzola will be kept on his toes from now on.
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