The Giallorossi are not flying as high as they did at the start of the season, but as 2025 draws to a close, there is plenty to be grateful for—and plenty to be optimistic about heading into 2026. Roma’s defense remains among the best in Europe, and although the offense is not clicking, you can sense that with the right January moves, a world-class defense could finally be paired with a Gasperini-style offense Romanisti have craved since Roma announced his signing.
Yet for that hope to remain for the
rest of the season, Gasperini and his squad have to right the ship a bit heading into the new year and the January mercato. Roma’s 2-1 loss to Juventus before Christmas certainly stung, and while they are still undoubtedly in the hunt for Champions League football, a draw or loss to Genoa tomorrow will make that hunt much harder—particularly as Luciano Spalletti looks to be whipping his new squad into shape at an impressive pace.
Match Details
Date: December 29th
Kickoff: 20:45 CET/2:45 EST
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Roma
Referee: Marco Di Bello
Meanwhile, a victory tomorrow could create new psychological momentum for the Giallorossi. Gasperini knows the Grifone better than almost anyone in Serie A (although the same can be said for Daniele De Rossi and Roma, of course), and he knows they will look to frustrate a Roma side struggling for creativity. To head into the winter mercato with clear heads and high spirits, the Giallorossi must prove they can shake off the disappointment in Turin and grind out a result when it matters most. A win tomorrow secures their footing in the top-four race; anything less, and calls for a deep-seated January revolution will only grow louder.
What to Watch For
Can Ferguson Save His Spot in Rome by Stealing Dybala’s?
It’s been said ad nauseam that the biggest thing holding the Giallorossi back under Gasperini is a lack of results from attackers, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Coming into the season, however, there was a lot of promise in this attack, with both Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson clearly having talent at the very least. That talent has translated into next to nothing to date, though, with both strikers combining for only five goals across all competitions. As a result, demands for an overhaul at striker are growing louder with each match day.
There’s no doubt that Frederic Massara and Gian Piero Gasperini are planning to inject new attacking talent into the side the moment the winter mercato opens, but that doesn’t mean that the current strikers at the club can’t stake a claim for more trust moving forward. It seems more than likely that Dovbyk will be leaving the Stadio Olimpico sooner rather than later, but at least the promise of youth is on Ferguson’s side to warrant a prolonged stay with the Giallorossi.
Gasperini himself has been unusually explicit about what Ferguson’s window of opportunity looks like. Speaking this week, he acknowledged that Paulo Dybala has at times been used as a center forward out of necessity rather than design, calling it “sometimes the only solution,” but also insisting that when healthy, Dybala raises the entire level of the side. Gasperini went so far as to say that when Dybala has physical issues (as he has often), playing him as an attacking midfielder is “even worse,” reinforcing the idea that Roma’s current structure is quietly built around keeping him close to goal.
That framing matters for Ferguson, because Gasperini was just as blunt about what separates the two. Technically, the comparison is a dead end. “That’s impossible,” he said. But Gasperini hopes that Ferguson can compete not with technical talent but with willpower, hunger, and a kind of functional aggression: the ability to press, to impose himself physically, and to force the coach into selection dilemmas through effort and impact rather than elegance. Gasperini even used the phrase “trying to steal his place,” not through craft but through “more suitable weapons.”
That makes Ferguson’s role less about replacing Dybala in stature and more about threatening the structure that has grown around him. If Ferguson can become reliable enough as a central presence by occupying defenders, winning duels, and arriving in the box with consistency, he can give Gasperini the option of protecting Dybala more often instead of leaning on him. As an attacking midfielder or even a more typical winger, Dybala could float wider, play fewer minutes, or drop into more selective moments of influence, instead of being the permanent load-bearing beam of the attack. In that scenario, Ferguson doesn’t “take” Dybala’s place so much as he forces the team to stop needing Dybala everywhere, all the time.
If Ferguson remains a young forward with good movement and quiet games, he’ll be an easy name to move on from when January arrives and Roma go shopping. But if he becomes the kind of forward who unsettles matches through pressure, presence, and persistence — even before the goals come — he gives Roma something they currently lack: an attack that doesn’t collapse the moment Dybala isn’t perfect. And that, more than any single goal tally, is what could save Ferguson’s spot in Rome.
Will Jan Ziółkowski Be Gasperini’s First True Youth Project?
Gasperini’s relationship with young players has always been slightly paradoxical. He’s built a deserved name for developing talent into world-class players, but he rarely waits for that development to happen in real time. He prefers to refine players who already arrive with a certain level of tactical and physical maturity. That’s what makes Jan Ziółkowski’s recent reappearance in the lineup interesting: he hasn’t been spectacular, and he certainly hasn’t been world-class, but Roma appear willing to live with his imperfections in the service of future growth.
The circumstances have certainly helped Ziółkowski’s case for more playing time. With N’Dicka away at AFCON and Hermoso nursing knocks, the usual safety nets in the back line have thinned out. Plan A, as the Italian press has put it, is now to confirm Ziółkowski in the center of defense, keeping Mancini on the right and Hermoso on the left when possible, rather than reshuffling the entire structure. That choice suggests Gasperini values giving Ziółkowski more continuity instead of insulating him from responsibility (or hiding him on the bench).
Ziółkowski’s performances to date, while far from spotless, have been quietly functional. He particularly shone against Juventus despite Roma’s loss, where he drew a foul, made three tackles (all won), and recorded seven clearances. Over his eight appearances this season (three total starts), he’s totaled eight tackles and 17 clearances. Those are certainly modest numbers, but ones that point to engagement rather than hiding. Roma have conceded with him on the pitch, and he has yet to be part of a clean sheet, but the fact that Gasperini keeps bringing him back anyway is arguably more important than the raw outputs.
If Gasperini sticks with him through the inevitable mistakes, Ziółkowski can become a genuine long-term option for the Giallorossi, even after N’Dicka returns from AFCON. And with most January investment likely to go toward the attack, his development could quietly stabilize the defense without requiring additional resources.
