After a 4-3 home defeat by Real Madrid, Roma return to league action against De Rossi's Genoa on Saturday. Gian Piero Gasperini spoke ahead of the match today:
An update on Koné and Dybala's fitness.
“Koné’s MRI scan showed a grade-one injury, nothing particularly significant. But he still needs the necessary time, and we hope to have Koné back a little before the break. As for Dybala, there’s nothing unusual. It’s undoubtedly fatigue in the calf muscle, and we hope to have him back next week.”
Could Pellegrini move back into midfield? What about Castro?
“Yes, certainly. Given the shortage of players at the moment, it’s definitely a role Pellegrini can fill. In the meantime, we’ll try to get de Roon and Cristante back too, hopefully for the Napoli match, otherwise for the one after that. Castro? In the last two matches, we went down to ten men in one, and in the other, the other night, the match unfolded as it did. But he’s a talented young player who has already played in our league and done very well. So tomorrow will certainly be a good opportunity for him.”
After Juventus beat Roma 3-2 in 2014, Garcia said the defeat had shown him the true value of the group. Has the defeat against Real Madrid shown you the same?
“Yes, but without talking about the Serie A title or targets, because otherwise it becomes more complicated. This team have quality and have been showing it for months, because the results they’ve achieved are no accident. Recently we’ve had to play Inter, Como and Real Madrid, and in all those matches we’ve shown our quality, even against such formidable opponents. Then, over the course of a match, particular situations can arise or players can be unavailable. It depends: sometimes you go into these matches with a full
squad
, other times with some players missing, and sometimes something unexpected happens, like Malen being sent off. You might imagine a defender being sent off, but Malen being sent off is really hard to imagine. That’s part of football. But we come out of these three matches with an even stronger belief that, if nothing unusual happens, we can compete with these teams.”
How difficult is it for a manager to reconnect with the team after a match like Wednesday's? How do you avoid a psychological setback?
“The risk exists, because the other night there was a psychological setback, probably at 3-2. In fact, definitely. That’s something you have to work on and absolutely put right, especially because this team mustn’t feel they have to win the Champions League, the Serie A title or anything else. This is a team who need to express themselves, full stop. And if you concede a goal, you can’t let your spirits drop. That’s what I call it, because mentally you feel lost and say: ‘I could have won; now I can’t win.’ What always matters, in my view, is the performance, how you measure up against these teams. We know matches are decided in the final minutes, but we decided them in our favour at Parma and against Atalanta, while against Inter, Juventus or Real Madrid we were probably on the receiving end. It’s clear that this isn’t about a physical drop-off, but about mental strength. At those moments, we can put things right through organisation, which fell apart at 3-2, and then through a strong response. The other night, at a certain point, that response was probably somewhat lacking. Fortunately, we play tomorrow, even though several players are unavailable. We face a team who may not have the stars we came up against the other night, but who are certainly better organised and better able to close down, cover and occupy space. So it will be a different kind of challenge. Tomorrow, regardless of who plays, who doesn’t and who is missing, we need a strong squad. We need players who feel strong when they’re called upon, because with this schedule we won’t be able to keep playing with the same team and the same players without making substitutions. Substitutions are necessary, because on Sunday at Como we played a half with ten men. It’s understandable if someone is fatigued towards the end, especially if they have to mark Diomandé, then Vinicius, and then Endrick comes on. That’s normal when you face these teams. We, too, absolutely have to broaden the squad. Those who play tomorrow, perhaps someone like Castro, Mora or others who will certainly be used, need to gain the same confidence and strength, because competitions are played with a squad, with a team. And a team isn’t made up of eleven players, or even fifteen or sixteen any more. In our case, it has to be made up of at least twenty players. More and more, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing I don’t know, when you play in these competitions and take part in the Champions League, as you can see with other teams too, you need a larger number of players. There are injuries and suspensions; some injuries keep players out for a month and others for a week, but in the meantime you play three matches. Tomorrow will be our third match in seven days, and Tuesday will be our fourth in ten days. That’s how football has changed. So either we adapt or we suffer. But, going back to the responses I’ve seen, I also want to look at the good things, not just how we conceded from a corner. Let’s talk about that too; let’s raise everyone’s level a little. Let’s develop the young players we have, who tomorrow may have to help us beat Genoa in some way. Clearly, it won’t be an easy match, far from it. Even if we had a full squad, it would be a difficult match. The one thing that worries me a little tomorrow is that we really have very few options on the bench, so in some positions we may have to get through the ninety minutes with Primavera players who could be making their debuts.”
Is there a problem in the big matches? Why do these lapses keep happening?
“No, they aren’t lapses, as I said earlier. There’s also an opponent who, just as we make certain situations count in matches we then turn around, have players capable of coming on and making the difference. The other night, Endrick turned the match with two headers. They were a couple of incidents, but they came in the most unpredictable way: by putting us under pressure in the air from three corners. Everyone can interpret it as they wish. It’s normal for certain teams to have those options. Gatti, for example, caused us problems as a centre-forward. He came on and scored the equaliser in a scramble. But he hasn’t done that only against us; I think it happened in another match too, though I can’t remember which one now. In the closing stages, many of these teams settle matches that way. When there’s no longer the opportunity or ability to create chances through play, they look for other solutions. But those goals count exactly the same as goals scored from open play. It’s a fact that many of these teams manage to resolve various situations and matches that way. We manage to do it in a certain way against some teams, while against others we may find ourselves on the receiving end. We recognise that and will try to put it right in future.”
Can you work on that?
“That’s something we still have to do, certainly. But in those situations, conceding three goals from corners in a row like that... I’d already seen three missed penalties last year in the same incident, and I thought that was quite a record. The other night we outdid ourselves.”
On the need for a larger squad.
“I wanted to explain something, even at the risk of someone saying I’m complaining. That’s not the point. The point is that today, teams playing in European competitions, playing in the Champions League and facing this kind of schedule, can no longer have a squad the same size as they did a few years ago, five or six years ago. We can draw on the youth academy too; we’ll never play with ten men, don’t worry. But in terms of numbers, for teams in European competitions, with the schedule as it is, it’s now clear that the number of matches makes a larger squad necessary.”