Gasperini: "These games are never easy to win"

Here's what our boss had to say.

Fiorentina won, Roma won and Bologna won – it’s been a good evening for Italian football. 

"Indeed, and we needed it. It’s what Italian football needs. It’s never easy to win away in such amazing and historic stadiums which are packed to the rafters. It was a great match."

We really liked the courage you showed in shaking the team up. You made five changes which gave the team freshness and dynamism, with Niccolo Pisilli, Neil El Aynaoui, Devyne Rensch, Stephan El Shaarawy and most saliently Evan Ferguson coming into the fold. 

"They all did their jobs. It's a moment of the season in which we need to make important judgement calls, and we need to make them in games that matter. This really counted today. Playing in these stadiums is never easy, especially against teams on good runs. The performances put in by Pisilli, Ferguson and the other guys give them confidence and provide us with more strings to our bow."

Did you use the ‘carrot and stick’ method with Ferguson? 

"No – today Evan just did what he’d been doing recently in training. He’s a young lad, he needs a little patience. Beyond the goals – especially the amazing second – what really counted is his performance. It was a performance full of intensity, spirit, running, never giving up, and showing his best qualities."

Isn't there a risk that in January people will say: "We’ve found the striker: Ferguson," and then leave you wanting for your project building?

"I wish the situation was solved. However, as I said, they’re young guys who can come in seamlessly and do a job whenever called upon. We'll talk about the January transfer market further down the line, because now we’ve still got several important games to play."

In Europe there’s maybe more of an imperative to physically dominate games. You said that "We're not physically tired, but maybe we're mentally tired." What’s the main difference between Europe and Serie A?

"In Europe you face the best teams in their leagues. The games are more open, because teams play with confidence and conviction and attack in numbers. It's a different kind of football from Italian football, where there’s often less space and less chance to play your game. As a result you have to deal with deadly strikers. It's a different type of football. I wouldn't say it's easier, but it's different."

Let’s go back to the subject of fitness. Despite having such a busy schedule it seemed like today you sent out a positive message, setting the tempo. Are Roma in good shape, then?

"Sometimes it's too easy to just talk about fitness. It depends on many things. It's not just running - often a player’s fatigue is more related to their nervous system than a muscular kind of fatigue. Sometimes you underestimate the opponent, other times - like last Sunday - you end up facing a highly motivated team. 

"I think the lads are more than prepared to play more games a week, and they’ve proved as much. What’s not always easy is to keep belief and motivation levels high. Often this is confused with fitness, but it’s not just about that."

Looking ahead to Roma v Como, will you be able to select El Aynaoui, who played a great game tonight? 

"We’ll probably find out tomorrow. We hope we can pick him and Evan Ndicka. It would be significant but it’s not only down to us. However, we’ll have to deal with the upcoming games missing two players who proved to be very important tonight as well. Pisilli has developed a lot, he’s done well, and I’m very happy for him. We have resources in the squad and we’ll try to make up for their losses as best we can, even if they are two vital players."