Gasperini on Roma’s win over Midtjylland: “Against Napoli we’ll need to do much better.” | OneFootball

Roma returned to winning ways in the Europa League with a 2-1 victory over Midtjylland, thanks to a superb volley from El Aynaoui and a strike from El Shaarawy.

The three points, their first at home in the competition, continued their success over Rangers, but coach Gian Piero Gasperini made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the performance after the match.

“A win that significantly improves our standings, achieved against an excellent team,” Gasperini began to Sky Sport, but immediately added a critical note: “We didn’t play a great game. We took an early lead and I thought we could have done better technically. It’s also true that we play a lot… we moved the ball slowly and made a lot of mistakes.”

The coach nevertheless praised the team’s spirit: “I expected more in our build-up play, but the team held firm. We need to do much better for Sunday.”

The tactical choices, which included the use of a false nine, were dictated by contingency: “Also a little out of necessity,” Gasperini admitted. Evan Ferguson, in fact, was chosen for the match due to his ankle problems, which he’s “battled.”

The most comforting news concerns Paulo Dybala’s recovery: “Yes. He’s recovered, he has no problems,” Gasperini assured, specifying that the Argentine “could have continued until the 90th minute; he’s a recovered player.”

However, his position on the pitch is still being evaluated: “He had a bit of difficulty as a central striker. Let’s see if he can still play that role or play a bit more out wide.”

The Giallorossi coach then praised the performances of the young players and clarified the midfield hierarchy.

El Aynaoui, who scored the first goal, is now a sure thing: “He’s already a starter. I’ll alternate with Cristante and Koné.”

Daniele Ghilardi also had a positive debut as a starter: “He put in a good performance, excellent athletic condition. He was very motivated, but he struggled a lot with the limited playing time. Tonight he played very well, he can improve a lot technically, but well.”

The only sour note was in the midfield: “Koné suffered a nasty challenge on his ankle, a small sprain. We’ll see in the next few days, but he’s not beyond recovery.”

Regarding the drop in intensity after the first twenty minutes, Gasperini blamed the lack of quality rather than running: “Yes, when you don’t play particularly well, you have to win the ball back and spend more time. We needed to get the attackers to play better, and the attackers needed to move better.”

The coach finally reiterated the imperative ahead of the league clash: “We need to do much better for Sunday.”