Gasperini: ‘Roma won’t settle for fourth, but we’d be happy with it’

Gian Piero Gasperini feels the 1-0 victory over Como was Roma’s ‘best home performance of the season’ and assures he wouldn’t ‘settle for fourth place, but I’d be very happy with it.’

The Giallorossi were feeling the pressure after back-to-back 1-0 defeats in Serie A to Napoli and Cagliari, even though they got back on track in the Europa League with Thursday’s 3-0 win over Celtic.

It was a tough test against Cesc Fabregas’ Como and the only goal of the game was scored by Wesley Franca, firing through Alex Valle’s legs on the Matias Soulé lay-off.

With that in mind, Fabregas praised “great talent” Soulé in his post-match comments.

“Undoubtedly, Soulé had a great performance, but this evening I’d struggle to find someone who didn’t,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

“It was a good performance from both teams, otherwise you don’t get this kind of intensity, this battle with each trying to win using their characteristics. If you leave Como space on the counter, they can hurt you with their pace.

“I think it was the best game we’ve had at home so far this season, so I’m glad the fans were able to enjoy this match.”

Roma have now taken the lead on nine occasions in Serie A this season and gone on to win all of them, whereas all their defeats have been by 1-0 scorelines.

They have the strongest defensive record in the league, conceding only eight times in 15 rounds.

“We’ve been solid since the start and even when we lose, they tend to be very tight matches. This is our characteristic and our strength,” noted Gasperini.

“Having said that, in recent weeks we’ve started to create a lot more opportunities too, and tonight we had significantly more than Como. We were much more dangerous and the win could’ve been by a bigger scoreline.

“We’re still lacking something in the finish and the final ball, but the team created a lot and played with quality.”

This result means that Roma consolidated fourth place, but closed to within a point of Napoli, two of AC Milan and three of new leaders Inter.

Would Gasperini be happy now to take fourth place come the end of the season?

“I never settle early,” he laughed, “but I would be very happy with that! More than the final position, I want to focus on us putting in this kind of performance. We have incredible fans, we can sense something extra when we get a deserved victory. There is an extra enthusiasm and it is contagious, so we needed that on home turf.

“This has to be the main objective, then the results come after that.”

Can Roma challenge for the Scudetto this season or are there other teams far better equipped to go for the title?

“It’s an understandable viewpoint, but these lads give their heart and soul. In theory there are stronger players in other teams, but do they have the same spirit, the same work ethic and participation?” responded Gasperini.

“At this moment, we are a good team. We’re working to get better, I saw in the head-to-head clashes, including tonight, that it’s never easy for anyone against us. We hope to continue with this spirit.”