Roma left to do 'some soul-searching' after shock home defeat as Gian Piero Gasperini demands more shots and goals from 'sluggish' attack

Ahead of the 2025-26 season, Roma's biggest signing was deemed to be Piero Gasperini, the manager who led Atalanta to Europa League success in 2023-24. However, after his arrival, Roma are yet to showcase their best performance in the continental event, having lost two of their three games in the competition. In Serie A, Roma sit fourth with five wins and two losses, having gone down 1-0 at home to rivals Inter in their previous match. They have the lowest goals scored among the top six teams. In the Europa League, they boast just three goals, including Dybala's penalty from the Plzen game. Having now lost three of their last four games, Gasperini has called on his players to step up and provide more goals.

Gasperini said after the game: "The team fought until the end, trying to equalise and score. We were sluggish in our finishing. There are a lot of players who haven't scored in a long time, we need to do some soul-searching. Why? There are problems. Confidence in the players comes from their performances, from their results. Especially in the first half, there was a lot of space; if it wasn't exploited, we have to ask ourselves why. We had the opportunity to play well, especially to get into the box more. These are things we need to do to increase our attacking prolificness.

"Can the situation be resolved with these players? It must be resolved with these players. Everyone needs to provide one more assist, one more shot, one more goal. Everyone, even if some of their scores aren't that high. I've seen very good performances from several players, but with these results, they're being judged negatively."

Dybala's penalty was his 200th goal for club and country but the Argentine criticised the team for not doing what they do during the training sessions. He even went on to say that they will never win if they are not nasty. 

"We lacked nastiness, we will never win like this," he said. "I think today, unlike the match against Inter [at the weekend], we created fewer chances. We started poorly because we conceded two goals early on, and it becomes difficult, because in Europe it's always difficult when you go 2-0 down. If you underestimate your opponents, that's the result, and we'll never win."

His opinion on his team's sluggishness echoed what Gasperini shared. "We lacked determination, we came in feeling sluggish, that's the truth. It's sad to say, because we prepare a lot during the week, we watch a lot of videos and we tell each other things, but lately we haven't done them. Now we shouldn't worry, we have to look at the mistakes of the last few games but also look at the positives, run, fight and get out of it," he added.

After seven Serie A games, attacking midfielder Matias Soule is their top scorer with three of the team's seven goals. Although the Gialorossi are up against seventh-placed Sassuolo this weekend and then face a Parma side with just one win under their belts so far this term. After that, they will be back against the higher-ranked sides like AC Milan, who they face on November 2, before facing Scottish side Rangers on November 6 in the Europa League. On one hand, the rapid flow of fixtures is expected to cause fatigue, but this also provides a chance for the entire unit to sharpen their attacking prowess before taking on Milan and Rangers.