ROMA BOSS GIAN Piero Gasperini has warned Evan Ferguson and his fellow Roma forwards to “look in the mirror” amid a slump in form.
Roma fell to a third defeat in four games at home to Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League last night, falling to a 2-1 defeat. While Paulo Dybala scored a second-half penalty, it was only their tenth goal in 10 games in all competitions this season.
Ireland’s Evan Ferguson, having started the season as the first-choice striker ahead of Ukraine’s Artem Dovbyk, played just 16 minutes off the bench last night. He was also on the bench for last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Inter Milan, playing only the last 10 minutes.
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Ferguson has yet to score for Roma, and in fact has scored just one club goal in his last 51 appearances. His recent record for Ireland, however, is excellent, with four goals in eight caps in 2025, three of which have come across Ireland’s four World Cup qualifiers to date.
Dovbyk is struggling too: he has one goal in nine Roma appearances this season, and was booed by a section of the home support having started against Viktoria Plzen.
“We were sluggish in the finishing, that is true”, Gasperini said after the game, quotes reported by Football Italia.
“There are many players who haven’t scored for a long time, so they need to look in the mirror and ask why that is. It’s because evidently there are problems, if we hadn’t converted a penalty, we would not have scored again today, despite spending most of it in the opposition final third. We need to reflect on that.
“Now we need to improve our efficiency upfront, because we create all the time and then don’t convert, it’s not enough. These are the players we have, so all of them must try to get another assist, another shot inside the area rather than from distance.
“We need to take that step up in quality, otherwise every performance will be read negatively based on the result, when I have seen some good overall moves. The attack is what wins you games, and we absolutely need to resolve that.”
Roma are fourth in Serie A, just a point behind leaders AC Milan and level on points with Napoli and Inter Milan. They are away to Sassuolo
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Gasperini tells Ferguson and Roma's other goal-shy forwards to 'look in the mirror'
ROMA BOSS GIAN Piero Gasperini has warned Evan Ferguson and his fellow Roma forwards to “look in the mirror” amid a slump in form.
Roma fell to a third defeat in four games at home to Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League last night, falling to a 2-1 defeat. While Paulo Dybala scored a second-half penalty, it was only their tenth goal in 10 games in all competitions this season.
Ireland’s Evan Ferguson, having started the season as the first-choice striker ahead of Ukraine’s Artem Dovbyk, played just 16 minutes off the bench last night. He was also on the bench for last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Inter Milan, playing only the last 10 minutes.
Ferguson has yet to score for Roma, and in fact has scored just one club goal in his last 51 appearances. His recent record for Ireland, however, is excellent, with four goals in eight caps in 2025, three of which have come across Ireland’s four World Cup qualifiers to date.
Dovbyk is struggling too: he has one goal in nine Roma appearances this season, and was booed by a section of the home support having started against Viktoria Plzen.
“We were sluggish in the finishing, that is true”, Gasperini said after the game, quotes reported by Football Italia.
“There are many players who haven’t scored for a long time, so they need to look in the mirror and ask why that is. It’s because evidently there are problems, if we hadn’t converted a penalty, we would not have scored again today, despite spending most of it in the opposition final third. We need to reflect on that.
“Now we need to improve our efficiency upfront, because we create all the time and then don’t convert, it’s not enough. These are the players we have, so all of them must try to get another assist, another shot inside the area rather than from distance.
“We need to take that step up in quality, otherwise every performance will be read negatively based on the result, when I have seen some good overall moves. The attack is what wins you games, and we absolutely need to resolve that.”
Roma are fourth in Serie A, just a point behind leaders AC Milan and level on points with Napoli and Inter Milan. They are away to Sassuolo
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evan ferguson Goal Drought Roma