Since I didn’t watch yesterday’s victory over Celtic in its entirety, I wasn’t able to draft a proper Sinners & Saints from the club’s 3-0 win in Glasgow. In lieu of S&S, we’re turning our post-match coverage
over to Zach Lowy, who was kind enough to pen a guest post for us—you can follow Zach on social media, while his work has appeared in many places, including Breaking the Lines and even our colleagues at Black, White & Read All Over.
Gasperini Could Make Dreams a Reality at Roma
Gian Piero Gasperini’s decision to tackle a new challenge with Roma after a lengthy spell in charge of Atalanta raised plenty of eyebrows around Serie A last summer. However, the switch has paid dividends, with Roma in contention to win the title after 14 games. Gasperini is renowned for being a shrewd operator and inevitably tried to play down Roma’s title chances during a recent post-match interview with DAZN. “I’ve already said this – there’s nothing wrong with dreaming when you’re doing great, but we know very well that dreams rarely come true,” he said. “It’s very nice to experience this dream and we will enjoy it as long as we can. We pretend to wake up and sleep a bit longer – that way it will last longer.”
Summer Business Gets Roma Rolling
While the Roma manager is understandably eager to keep a lid on expectations, it is not unreasonable to suggest his team is a genuine title contender. Having finished fifth in Serie A last season, Gasperini’s appointment and some excellent summer transfer business triggered excitement amongst the club’s fans. Their incomings were headline by Wesley, who has been a standout performer for the club since completing his move from Flamengo in Brazil. Having added several talented players to a squad that finished fifth last season, Roma handed Gasperini the tools he needed to oversee a successful season.
Roma have been accustomed to playing 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2 formations under previous managers, and Gasperini has stuck to the same blueprint. Intriguingly, he has tweaked some of the dynamic elements he successfully implemented at Atalanta to better suit the players he now has at his disposal. One of the biggest factors driving Roma’s early-season form under Gasperini is that they are extremely resistant to the press during the build-up phase. They are adept at retaining possession and capable of producing fluid movements in the attacking third. Defensively, they are a nightmare to play against. Gasperini is famed for his defensive man-to-man scheme, and his current crop of players have taken to his methods like a duck to water. They have been helped in no small part by the willingness of the forward players to press opponents high up the pitch.
While narrow defeats against their title rivals have highlighted some deficiencies, Gasperini’s tactics have largely worked the oracle. Several of the goals Roma have conceded this season have come after an attacking move broke down on the right side of their attack. Gasperini will undoubtedly be keen to fix that anomaly, yet the number of goals conceded after 14 games highlights that Roma are doing plenty of things well.
Man-management Could Play Key Role in Title Race
Roma’s decision to appoint Gasperini not only secured a tactically astute manager for the club, but also gave them someone famed for man-management skills. During his time at Atalanta, he transformed the fortunes of numerous players who had previously been written off. Ademola Lookman immediately springs to mind. Lookman became the first current Atalanta player to receive a nomination for the Ballon d’Or due to his performances in Atalanta’s triumph in the 2023/24 Europa League. Intriguingly, the Nigerian international has gone off the boil this season. It is impossible not to link Gasperini’s exit with his dip in form.
The man-management factor could pay dividends for Roma this season, with Republic of Ireland striker Evan Ferguson a prime candidate to benefit from working with him. He scored his first Serie A goal against Cremonese in November, curling home a fine effort to put Roma 2-0 ahead and in control of the game. Gasperini offered plenty of encouragement to Ferguson after the match, saying that he has ‘a great desire to do well’ with Roma in Serie A. Having previously been questioned by Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler, the striker will have welcomed Gasperini’s positivity. If his new boss can cajole Ferguson back to the form he showed when he initially broke into Brighton’s first team, Roma’s title dreams could come to fruition this season.
