The Giallorossi coach on the eve of the away match against Celtic: “It’s never easy to play away and in a stadium like this. Now these are games that are starting to matter”
Scotland and the Europa League to get back on their feet. After the two defeats in the championship, Gian Piero Gasperini is looking for a shock against Celtic to get Roma back on the right path and enter the top eight of the Europa League maxi-group. We need a victory like in the other match played here a few kilometers away, against the Rangers, on November 6th. A success that would further bring them closer to qualifying for the top eight in the Europa League, effectively freeing up a calendar which, on the contrary, in February, would cause any playoffs to fall immediately after the match in Naples (the first leg) and immediately before Juventus at the Olimpico (the second leg). On the eve of a match of fundamental importance, the coach encourages his team to look for the goal more: “We have never been very prolific all year, it’s probably a structural difficulty, but in spurts we have had excellent periods. With Napoli it was more difficult, in Cagliari there were less than ideal situations. It’s not a question of the individual, but of the department. As a team we have to return to a better expression of play which leads us to more dangerous conclusions.”
occasion
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And then it must be an aggressive and intense Rome. Unscrupulous from midfield upwards. A concert of ideas from midfield upwards. The tiredness of some? It doesn’t exist. “It depends on what type of tiredness we’re talking about. There is also nervous tiredness, perhaps due to other situations, but from a physical and athletic point of view, Roma are a team that runs until the end.” And then inside Paulo Dybala, in what could be the match of his relaunch after many, too many days in the pits: “When a player is healed he is fit to play. Dybala had a setback, when he gets over it… he has been training for many months, all the players are capable of playing 90″‘. For the Argentine, an opportunity to impose his class as a false nine, in a role that in all likelihood will not once again be Evan Ferguson’s: “He has had many opportunities, apart from when he was injured, do we want to wait for him? Of course, he is young, we can wait for him to have better performances than those he has provided so far. Not on a technical level.” In attack, it’s true, there have been several experiments: but when will Roma reach the final solution at the center of the attack? “We had some defections, even long ones, between Dovbyk and Ferguson, they played in them, Dybala and Baldanzi too, often out of necessity. The one who often did well was Baldanzi, the others too in alternating ways.”
go peas
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And while Gasp launches Pisilli to attack Celtic, it is not yet known whether Ndicka and El Aynaouii will be able to be present against Como in the championship coinciding with the probable call-ups to the national team for the African Cup: “We have no certainties, we hope to have them tomorrow because Monday is near. The club is talking to the Federation. I can say that Celik, who is disqualified, will play, I would like to give space to Pisilli, for the rest we have to be a very careful team because tomorrow is a match true of Europe. Regarding El Aynaoui, I have to see if he has overcome the knee problem that is dragging on well and Ndicka can play every day (laughs, ed.), playing every four is relative.”
SUPER HERMOUS
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The last word to defender Mario Hermoso. Who, overlooking the Folorunsho case (“It is up to the League to decide to what extent certain attitudes are acceptable”), is preparing for a new battle as a starter and, in the meantime, exalts Gasp, the one who relaunched him after the transfer rumors and the feared farewell last summer: “I am very grateful to him, he made me feel again that pleasure of training, of playing, of facing challenges without fear. In this sense, I feel that we are two similar people, people who go straight on their way, without fear, without fear. In light of all this, I hope to be able to continue this relationship, this collaboration for a long time to come, and it seems to me that the results are also being seen on a personal and team level.”
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