Gasperini warns ahead of Genoa: “Ferguson’s season is over.” | OneFootball

Roma will face Genoa tomorrow – Sunday, March 8 – seeking three crucial points to maintain their lead over Como and Juventus, over whom the Giallorossi are four and five points ahead, respectively.

On the eve of the match at Marassi, Gian Piero Gasperini spoke at a press conference.

The Giallorossi coach discussed the absentees: “Including Dovbyk and Ferguson, there are always plenty of them, but the Ukrainian has been sidelined for many months and will return at the end of May. We can’t keep putting him on the absentee list, just like Ferguson, who will undergo surgery.”

“Dybala and Soulé are out, but we have alternatives available, and we’ll face the upcoming fixtures as we’ve done so far. These players, with the exception of Soulé, have always been out. Angelino is better, he’s training but had a period completely out, we’ll have to wait and see. Hermoso, on the other hand, won’t be available tomorrow either. Many teams have had significant injuries, but ours have been unusual.”

Gasperini then focused on the timing of the operations: “It would be presumptuous for us to talk about medicine; I don’t feel like discussing such a topic. This year there have been extreme cases, we’ve had significant absences, but we’ve come this far.”

The coach then spoke about Totti: “It’s not a topic I brought up; for over a month, you’ve been asking me about this phantom role. We wanted to have a very normal dinner, which neither of us paid for (laughs). We talked about football. He’s very direct, I like his approach.”

Gasperini then focused on the upcoming fixtures and the depth of the squad: “Now all the matches are important, but they will be decisive in May, not now. The league is important, the Europa League is crucial, it’s crucial to perform well. We’re playing in a league that’s decided game by game, so making calculations ahead of time is pointless.”

“We have booked players and injuries that we hope won’t increase, so we need to evaluate it game by game. Malen has given us more danger in attack, but things weren’t going badly before. Vaz is the alternative to the Dutchman, we’ll need everyone.”

Regarding the big matches, the coach said: “In the first leg, we lost to Juve and Napoli, and now we’re disappointed with a draw. When you concede a goal so close to the end, it weighs heavily. If we look at the overall performances, we did well, it depends on what you want to see. The game against Juve was decided by one incident, and I can’t think in terms of individual errors.”

Gasperini was clear about managing energy: “Tomorrow we play in Genoa, I know that stadium well. They’re a strong team, we just have to focus on them.”

Regarding Wesley’s absence, the coach said: “Wesley is suspended, we have a couple of options and we need to evaluate. Rensch did well against Juve, coming off a period where he wasn’t training well due to injury. He had some cramps towards the end, but that’s normal when you haven’t played for a while. He, Celik, Tsimikas, and Ghilardi can play on the left.”

Gasperini then praised De Rossi: “Daniele is doing well, his team is playing great football, and his fans are happy with his performance. This is a good sign. Their goals are different from ours, but they’re building their own path.”

Gasperini concluded by speaking about Cristante: “He’s playing a lot of games, and every now and then he’s a bit distracted. This is the most difficult aspect for everyone, knowing when someone needs to recover or can play. I have a hard time not including Cristante; he’s crucial in the air and for his versatility. We have many options in that area of ​​the pitch.”