Roma lose, Gasperini questions goal and admits counter error | OneFootball

Roma suffers a heavy defeat at the Olimpico against Napoli, who manage to assert themselves with a convincing performance and consolidate their positive momentum. For the Giallorossi, it's a step back in the standings as well: Gasperini's team slips to third place after a complicated evening in several aspects.

Gasperini after Roma-Napoli: “Unclear episode, low energy, and slow play”

In the post-match interview with DAZN, Gian Piero Gasperini thoroughly analyzed the most debated episode of the game — Napoli's decisive goal — and his team's overall performance.

The Giallorossi coach expressed doubts about the dynamics of the tackle that led to the goal: “The episode of Napoli's goal? I find it hard to be so clear-cut, because if we look closely, the player raises his foot after touching the ball and trips Konè. It's not such a clear episode: it could be called or not, but it's not that clear. These types of sliding tackles are almost always called. So, it's not as evident as Marelli said.”

Gasperini then expanded his reasoning, focusing on the defensive errors that paved the way for Napoli's counterattack: “Beyond that, we found ourselves badly exposed: we had two defenders and a winger out, Mancini out of position, two high wingers, and from there the counterattack started. We certainly contributed to the goal, because we shouldn't have allowed such a restart. In the second half, they didn't find it again, also because we were trailing, so we had to be more careful at that moment of the match. It was definitely our mistake, a pity.”

The coach defended the team's playing system, emphasizing how the current setup has been crucial in their season's journey: “We've played many matches and conceded few goals. If you play differently, you might concede different types of goals, and it's not certain you'll concede fewer. This setup has allowed us to reach this evening and still be in very high positions in the standings. It's clear we must always maintain the right coverage because in that situation, we weren't good at this and not in anything else.”

In the final part of the interview, Gasperini also highlighted the physical difficulties shown by the team and a less fluid play than usual: “I must say that Napoli also shot very little, so productively it was quite a blocked match. What disappoints us is not being able to play with the right energy: perhaps Thursday's match cost us a bit more this time. We certainly didn't have our usual speed, and when you take a few too many touches and the ball moves slowly, Napoli's organization also comes into play, and the play becomes slower and more difficult. I believe that unfortunately, we came into this match a bit in difficulty and weren't able, beyond the result, to play it as we have done lately.”

Andrea Alati

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.