Gasperini media conference before Cremonese

Here's what the coach had to say....

I guess Evan Ferguson will be back in the matchday squad tomorrow. A while ago you said that you'd finally seen him train properly. Have you seen an improvement in that sense?

“Definitely. By training properly, I meant that a young lad coming here from another country obviously needs some time to adapt to matches, training and life in general because he's been thrust into a new world. It took him a bit of time to get settled with his new team-mates. After I said that, I put him in the starting line-up and he had to come off after a minute because of this ankle problem, but generally with kids of that age you do need to wait a while.

How has he been this week?

“He's recovered from his ankle problem but he's not in great shape. He still feels a bit of pain when he kicks the ball, which restricts him a little. But he's really keen and determined so maybe you can overcome these little niggles during the match.”

Your team hasn't reached its full potential yet. How far away are you from seeing your ideal Roma team?

“It's hard to say. The team is doing really well. The lads are in a good place mentally. We're on the right track but we can't get too carried away after 11 matches. We have the impression we've improved technically, which is essential. And clearly we're performing at a very high level considering our league position, but I think there's always room for improvement – not so much in fitness terms, because we're in good shape, but on a technical level our play is better, in training too. Our team play has improved.”

How much room is there?

“There's always room: it's infinite. Top teams have room for improvement. Everyone does. That's what you work for.”

How are the international players after coming back? And how are Angelino and Paulo Dybala looking?

“Angelino has started training again individually and he's doing well. We're kind of dependent on the doctors. Dybala and [Leon] Bailey are working together. I think they're making good progress but there too we need the all-clear. Our internationals came back a day earlier than last time. They did well and nearly all of them played. We trained well on Thursday and yesterday. We'll try to pick up from where we left off, but there's always an unknown element after the break.”

Are you expecting to see an improvement in attack, with the number of goals in particular?

“As I said before, we're always trying to improve. In recent weeks we've been missing [Artem] Dovbyk, Ferguson, Dybala and Bailey, and when you're without all your strikers, you're obviously going to have some difficulties. But we've been creating more chances so we've scored a few more goals. When I talk about attacking, it's the whole team – [Gianluca] Mancini's assist for [Zeki] Celik is a prime example. We're trying to exploit the attributes of the players we have on the pitch. We'll do the same tomorrow.”

How does Tommaso Baldanzi fit into your idea of football? Might he get to play a bit further forward tomorrow?

“You all know what qualities we have. If we'd had all our strikers against Udinese, we might not have opted for that solution with Baldanzi up front, but in an emergency I think he's capable of playing in that position, although he doesn't have everything. He's a versatile player with good technique. He strikes the ball well and in certain situations in and around the box he can be dangerous. It's not exactly his position and I don't know if it ever will be – he's always played in other positions – but at the moment he's a useful player for us. He did very well against Udinese. He and Ferguson can do a makeshift job in that role – him because he's out of position and Ferguson because he has different attributes. With the right conditions he can do well there. He's done very well in training in recent weeks.”

Roma have played well without a traditional centre forward. Is that part of your philosophy or is it only in emergencies? I also wanted to ask why Niccolo Pisilli has found it so hard to get game time lately.

“We've said this before, but there are lots of different ways to play football. The main thing is it works well. I've had [Diego] Milito, [Duvan] Zapata and [Luis] Muriel score more than 20 goals but the year when we scored 98 league goals we were without a centre forward with [Josip] Ilicic, [Alejandro] Gomez and [Mario] Pasalic behind. That's happening to us at the moment. You have to see how things pan out on the pitch, understand the qualities, the options, the shooting ability. Then you get different moments during the game and sometimes you try out different things because it's useful to you. I think it's important to have different options within the game.

“Pisilli scored an incredible goal and he's scoring regularly at U21 level. He's one of the brightest prospects we have in Italy. At the moment he's behind [Manu] Kone, [Bryan] Cristante and [Neil] El Aynaoui, but I definitely owe him a bit. We're now going into a period of 16 back-to-back matches. We have seven straight away, then the toughest period will be between the end of December and the end of January, when we'll have nine to play, with the Europa League and the Coppa Italia in between tricky league fixtures. It's not hard to imagine that we're going to need the whole squad. Up to now I've used a fairly large core of players who have all played more or less the same matches. Others, like Pisilli, have played too but not a lot. But for the likes of him, [Daniele] Ghilardi and [Jan] Ziolkowski, the time will come when we need the help of the squad because you go through spells when players get injured or have to sit out. And if you're out for two weeks, you miss five games. That's when you need the depth of the squad.”

Do you think Roma losing after both of the previous international breaks is just a coincidence? I also wanted to ask if Mario Hermoso will be available.

“There are no coincidences. Whenever we've fallen behind we've then lost the game, except against Fiorentina. But it's also true that things evolve constantly. If something goes against you but you have more chances to score, then you can overcome it. It's all part of the improvement process.

“Hermoso pulled up yesterday with a niggle. We need to assess him but he won't be involved tomorrow.”

Are you a little worried about the January transfer window? It could be an opportunity given that Roma are in a good position.

“This is the situation we're in. We can't do anything to change it. We have to look at it and move forward. In January we're going to lose two players [Ndicka and El Aynaoui for the Africa Cup of Nations] who have been very important to this team, but we knew about that – it hasn't fallen out of the sky and hit us on the head. We'll have to find other solutions and we will.”

Devyne Rensch impressed in the derby but he hasn't played much since. Could he be an option for tomorrow with Hermoso unavailable? And why has he not played much since the derby?

“He's played what he has because Wesley and Celik have been exceptional. They've been performing incredibly well and we've become stronger on the flanks. We've produced some top-notch performances and that's why he's played less. That doesn't take anything away from Rensch – he was excellent in the derby. He'll get other opportunities. I can't pick more than 11 per game. He could be an option for tomorrow without Hermoso. The options are a defender or bring in a wide player and move Celik back. The options are him, [Kostas] Tsimikas, Ghilardi and Ziolkowski. One of those will be chosen for tomorrow.”

Vincenzo Montella has asked for the league to be halted in March before the World Cup play-off. What do you think about that? 

 “This is not something we can solve here. It's a FIFA problem, a world problem. We can say that the number of games has increased, at both club and international level, and that means more injuries. Whereas before you might have played 30, now it's 60. People are always talking about reorganising leagues and calendars. As for halting the league in the middle of the season, it's not something I like, but maybe we could give some time to the national teams in that period.”

Are Ghilardi and Ziolkowski ready to start for Roma?

 “They're part of our squad and they're all available. They were chosen for the squad and they're certainly ready.”

How much luck do you think is involved in Roma being top? And do you believe in miracles?

 “Nothing is down to chance – maybe after a handful of games, but after 11 matches it means something. It's even more significant when you get halfway through the season because by then you've played all the teams, but it's only at the end that it really matters.

 “No one performs miracles. It didn't end well for the last guy who performed miracles... You don't need miracles; you need to work. When I say that you're free to dream, you should dream. But rarely do dreams come true. This is a nice dream to have but, as I said, dreams don't normally come true. Besides anything else, it's still early days because we've only just started.”

How is Tsimikas doing?

“Like the other players who have featured less, it's because there are other players ahead of him who have been performing well. But things can change quickly in football. Look at Celik, Hermoso and [Lorenzo] Pellegrini. You get moments and if you're able to make the most of them, it doesn't take much for the situation to change.”