Gasperini's words ahead of Roma's visit to AC Milan

This is what the boss had to say...

What have you done to help Paulo Dybala recover and improve his fitness?  

 “Paulo’s problems have always been down to injuries, especially recently. Otherwise he has everything he needs, not only technical ability – his shooting and much more besides. He also has very good stamina. He has quality muscle fibres. You don’t reach the level he has without having excellent athletic qualities. His consistency is down to the fact that – without the injuries – he’s able to play. Plus of course he’s training really well. 

 “I think in the past there were times when he had to train less because he always had a niggle of some sort. Now he’s overcome his difficulties on a psychological level too: he believes he can reach high speeds, he can produce those bursts of pace and he can shoot a bit harder. But it’s all down to him. We’re just helping him bring it all out. 

 “I hope he can have one of his best seasons. He just needs consistency. Nowadays footballers can play until they’re older. He’s not that old at all. In many ways, he’s at the peak of his footballing maturity. He needs the fire and determination to have the sort of season he was capable of producing a few years ago.” 

Do you think Milan and Roma have shown they could be more than mere outsiders in the title race, which initially had Napoli and Inter as the two favourites? And what worries you most about Massimiliano Allegri’s team?

 “I’ve said this before: I’m not going to get into talk about the title or the Champions League spots. Everyone is free to have their opinion but right now I’m focused on how Roma can match up to a team like Milan. Both teams have got off to an excellent start. I’ll let other people talk about targets or other things. 

 “I agree with most people that Inter and Napoli started off as favourites and have a bit more. Our goal really is to measure up to the others. We measured up to Inter and we put in an excellent performance. Now we’re going to see how we measure up at San Siro against Milan – a top team who brought in some big names in the summer. It’s a nice opportunity for us to go to San Siro and play this sort of game.” 

Roma are the team with the most Serie A points in 2025: 70, which is eight more than Napoli and 11 more than Inter. What does that statistic, together with the fact your team has plenty of room for improvement in attack, tell you? And what more can this Roma team do? 

“Points-wise I don’t think we can do much more, can we? Although those points have produced a sixth place and we're still at the start. In terms of the team, what we do on a daily basis is important. And here we go back to our targets: our target really is to try and improve, to involve all the players as much as possible and build a set-up, a team that by playing and improving their football can become increasingly competitive.

“If you're telling me we can get more points, I think it's very difficult. Perhaps we can become a better team. Hopefully the points we earn will be effective, perhaps more effective than the ones we've got so far.”

Much of Milan's play is based around Luka Modric. I wanted to ask if playing Bryan Cristante in the hole – close to Modric – might be an option worth trying again.

“It is something we can try again with the way we play. I don't know if we'll play that way or if we'll play with a different front three. Modric is an extraordinary player who can cover different areas of the pitch so it's not easy to restrict him. We have to focus mostly on our own game.”

We often talk about the numbers of the strikers but if we look at the performances of your midfielders at Atalanta last season, they nearly all got five or six goals. This year Cristante has scored but the others haven't contributed much attacking-wise. Have you asked them to fill the box less or can you improve by getting more goals from your midfielders? I also wanted to ask for your opinion of Neil El Aynaoui, who you're using more and more.

"El Aynaoui is improving. He's doing well, like many other players who I think are slotting in well now. He's only joined us this season and there are very few players who come here from other leagues and hit the ground running. Most need a bit more time.

“In any case, Roma haven't scored a lot so far, although we're becoming more dangerous. We've had several different goalscorers though, which is a sign of our teamwork, our ability to score through different routes.

“As for the midfielders, Cristante is the only one who's scored so far but hopefully the others will soon. Naturally a team that's scoring more will have more players scoring. That team [Atalanta] had lots of different goalscorers because they scored lots of goals, so the goals were shared out more.”

In the 13 games you've played, we've seen lots of different line-ups. What does that mean? Is this a team that's still looking for its identity, its best version, or is it just a team with lots of options and that's the way it will be till the end of the season?

“I think our defence and midfield have been very similar in all our games. I don't see a lot of differences. The defence is settled, so is the midfield, the wide players. As for Wesley playing on the left sometimes, he's always played on the flank; he's never been employed as a centre forward or centre-back.

“Cristante has played the most together with El Aynaoui. The defenders are the same. Up front we've changed things around a bit because we're looking for... We have a lot of players too: this is a very big squad. I think I may not have ever had a squad with this many players.

“Up front we're looking for different solutions but that's also because we didn't have Dybala or [Leon] Bailey at the start. They were out for a long time so not part of our attack. Dybala has been looking good but only in the last two weeks and Bailey is still finding fitness. The one who's nearly always played is [Matias] Soule.

“So I have to say I don't really recall that many changes. Indeed, one of my initial aims was to give solidity and continuity to a group of core players and then slowly bring the others in. That's what we're doing game by game.

“Having said that, we're in a good league position and we need results. I don't really want to rotate or change much. During the match it's different because you have five subs and I nearly always use them all. I don't like the five subs rule because it's become a different game since Covid, but I nearly always use them all. I've adapted and I use them all. I don't like it because there's no lull. Before it got to a certain point of the game and there were some teams with players who experienced a lull, and if you were stronger, you'd come into the ascendancy. Now you can change half the team. It's too much now – it's like basketball. The game was more about selection and I think it made for better matches. But these are the rules and while I don't like the five subs I use them all, almost always. I rarely end the game having only made four subs.”

I'd like to ask you about the strikers. Artem Dovbyk scored a nice goal against Parma and I wanted to ask if there's any news on Evan Ferguson's injury. Also, how has Bailey been looking this week?

"Dovbyk is improving – that's not based solely on the Parma game but the last few weeks. If he's in good physical shape, he can perform better technically too. It was a good goal. He had chances against Inter. He had chances against Fiorentina. He had chances against Lille. When you start creating chances, you take them too. And it's a good sign.

“Ferguson twisted his ankle and that means a week or two out.

“We've sped things up a little with Bailey. I think he performed well against Sassuolo, at least in the first part of the game and that's why I had him on the bench. I didn't expect to bring him in so soon. Clearly after several months without playing he struggled to recover after the Sassuolo match. Maybe he needs more recovery time between games but it's just a fitness issue. He's fully recovered, he just needs to get his fitness up by playing bits of games and recovering well between matches. It's only because he was sidelined for a long time.”

You and Allegri both have a lot of Serie A experience. How much does that help you in the difficult moments of a game?

“Hopefully it always helps. If you have a lot of games behind you, it means you have a lot of experience. Experience matters but Serie A is different to other leagues and every game is different because there are multiple games within a game. Sometimes you start off with certain ideas but then you have to see if those ideas work out on the pitch.

“Games change. They're evenly balanced. We say this every year but this season the league really is more even than other years. Teams in the bottom half of the table are able to cause problems and take points off anyone.

“So there's one game in the first half, one game in the second half, a game at the end of the match... It's very balanced and moments change matches, so you have to always be very alert and read games well.”

I get the impression that when Roma change system, like in the second half on Wednesday, Soule is perhaps the player he finds it hardest. Maybe he's just tired but I wanted to ask if he is ok physically.

“I think he's doing well. He's the one playing the most. And it's very tiring having to always play in attack, having to always dribble and go past opponents. That's why he sometimes comes off. But it's not that the players who come off do so because they've played badly. His performances have always been good. He's our most consistent player and I'm very happy about that.”

After Lorenzo Pellegrini scored in the derby, there was talk of him having a second lease of life at Roma. But then, apart from the game against Hellas Verona, when he played 90 minutes, he started twice, came off after 55 minutes then made some late substitute appearances and stayed on the bench against Viktoria Plzen and in the last match. What's the reason for that?

“He's playing nearly every game. What's the problem? This is the starter, reserve, starter, reserve thing again. Let's talk about those who play: we have 25 players. 11 play and 14 don't. Pellegrini comes on, he plays, he's doing well. Perhaps he dropped off a bit physically and he got going again. He did well in the second half against Sassuolo. Why don't we take the positives?”

I just wanted to know if you expected a bit more from him after his derby goal.

“Who don't you like? Who do you want to take out?

No...

“No, tell me. Who do you want to take out of the team? Pellegrini is playing. And he's playing well.”