The Giallorossi coach will challenge Inter at San Siro tomorrow: “It would be important to go to the Champions League, the team has a good base but more could have been done to improve it. Let’s get Soulé back, I expected more from Zaragoza”
A big match not to be missed and a Champions League race that intersects with the Scudetto race. Gian Piero Gasperini faces the bête noire Inter tomorrow evening (5 wins in 35 direct matches and 21 defeats) and will have to do several tops. The coach reiterates the importance of reaching the Champions League. “Certainly the ranking position will greatly influence next season – admits Gasp -. We all hope to reach the Champions League for a mainly economic reason. The club is thinking about what it can and must do next season, the work of the previous managements now weighs heavily and will lead the club to make important decisions to face the future”. Future indeed. To the blunt question of whether he will stay at Roma at the end of the season he responds as follows: “I hope to be Roma’s coach in July, but I shouldn’t be the only one to be satisfied. All the members must be. I believe this is a good team, it shouldn’t be dismantled but improved and completed. Maybe we could have done it a little more this year but the base is solid.”
soulé
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Many absences at San Siro, but also an important recovery. “Soulé trained with us all week, he’s been out for a long time but in recent days he was himself again – confirms Gasperini -. Wesley and Koné are still still, but the situation is more positive than the first diagnosis”. Rensch should play in place of the Brazilian: “He alternates good matches with others in which there have been sudden drops in attention and motivation. I have two solutions: Rensch or Tsimikas. Angelino is growing but I don’t think he’s ready yet even if he has made notable steps. Zaragoza? I expected more, I hoped he could give those accelerations that were only seen in Naples on Malen’s goal. It’s not easy to adapt immediately, let’s hope now he can bring something more.” Speaking of Malen, Gasp also talks about his redemption: “He has convinced everyone, there will be economic evaluations that the club must make but there is no doubt about the player’s value.
relationships
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And on the relationship with the owners he clarifies: “I have a frank relationship with them, I try to bring my ideas to satisfy the objectives that the club has asked of me. Whatever happens it’s a fantastic experience but there are difficulties. Not everyone rightly sees football in the same way, I try to apply my way which up to now has led me to coach Roma. I would like to bring compatible solutions to help the team grow, my objective remains that net of possibilities”. But now there is a Champions League sprint. “We are already talking about budgets but we are still in an important race – continues Gasp -. I am very happy with this choice and the relationship of trust that I have managed to gain with the fans and with the team. Regardless of where we end up, the players are the strong part of this club, they must be the priority part in a football team”. And speaking of footballers, tomorrow evening there will be many returning from the defeat in the national team. “We need to quickly put these disappointments aside. The strength of the players is that they always have to look ahead, my players must think about the club now. Tomorrow Roma and Inter will play a very important match for their respective objectives and the margins for error must be reduced. For me it is a good result to arrive at this point of the season on equal points with Juve and -3 from the Champions League. Now we will give our all, eight games are not enough to accelerate”
ITALIAN FOOTBALL CRISIS
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Gasperini also intervenes on the failure of the national team: “We haven’t gone to the World Cup three times in a row, there isn’t a single problem but a complex of things and a system that doesn’t work. It’s not enough to send away the president or the coach. There are many kids who play football, a huge base and also structures. Evidently, however, this is no longer globally convincing. We need to intervene on many factors also because this is not just a sport but a social aspect”. Then on the possibility of coaching the national team: “All the names are being brought up at the moment, but I repeat the problem does not concern the figure of the coach but a total reorganization to get our boys to be competitive. I don’t think that we have suddenly forgotten how to play football, this nation has a crazy past”. On Conti’s farewell he gets away with a joke: “He was an idol of mine. I honestly don’t know anything.”
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