Mancini: ‘Always been attacking, Gasperini focus on going forward’ at Roma | OneFootball

Gianluca Mancini admits Gian Piero Gasperini is encouraging him to explore his more attacking style from defence, as Roma ‘have what it takes’ to shine in the Europa League.

The centre-back scored the winning goal in this evening’s 2-1 result away to OGC Nice, after the opener from his fellow defender Evan N’Dicka, but the Italian’s was from open play on the volley.

“I’ve always had a very attacking approach, but it depends a lot on the coaches that you are working with,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia.

“Gasperini is very focused on that style, so I know that when I come forward there’s coverage from the midfielders. We were all still trying to work out the right movements in the first few games, so we didn’t do it as much, but we knew Nice would leave a few more spaces tonight.

“Their striker was struggling to deal with my run, I did it twice and scored two goals really.”

Mancini did have the ball in the net during the first half, but he was flagged offside on the header, waiting until the 55th minute to get on the scoresheet.

“This was a difficult match and it is important that we started our European adventure with three points.”

Mancini enjoying more attacking role at Roma

Gianluca Mancini with the Roma third kit. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Nice did manage to set up a tense finale with their penalty, but in the first five competitive matches under Gasperini, only one goal has been scored from open play.

“Defensive solidity does not start from us defenders, I’ll repeat that a thousand times, it starts with the rest of the team helping to cover us. It’s also true we had a bit of luck at times and haven’t conceded many this season,” insisted Mancini.

“After that, the defenders can have a great performance for 90 minutes, fall into a silly mistake in stoppages and ruin everything. So defenders must always be switched on, and unfortunately today again we made life complicated for ourselves in the final minutes.

“The good thing is that we all came together and held on to bring home the result. We’re still working on the details, but the mentality and determination have been excellent.”

Referee Luca Pairetto speaks with Gianluca Mancini of AS Roma during the Serie A match between AS Roma and SS Lazio at Stadio Olimpico on January 05, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

It was curious that this was the only time this season Roma have scored more than one goal per game, and both were netted by defenders.

“I think we did better in attack today, that is the most complicated part because it is so very new to us. Details like positioning and posture can make a big difference, so the more we work on it, the more effective we will be going forward” assured Mancini.

Roma are considered among the favourites for the Europa League, especially now that Gasperini has come in with his history in the tournament.

“Last season there was that incident in Europe that rather ruined our plans. We have several players in this squad who played in a Europa League Final, Gasperini won it two years ago with Atalanta, so we have what it takes. However, we’ve got to take it one game at a time and realise that playing every three days is an opportunity to improve more quickly.

“We have a very difficult fixture list in the Europa League, so we’ll see how we go and try to get stronger with every match,” concluded Mancini.