Gasperini Reflects on Victory Against Sassuolo and Team Management Challenges
Gian Piero Gasperini expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance after their recent match against Sassuolo, which resulted in a valuable three points. In an interview with DAZN, he stated, “I’m very satisfied. Clearly it’s three points and when you win it’s always very nice, but there’s also a way to win and tonight we did it with personality, with quality, playing a great match.”
The coach also shared his thoughts on the upcoming international break, expressing mixed feelings. “Even though we don’t like these international breaks, because they interrupt the season again, even if this time only for a week. But it’s clear that I enjoy the national team when something important is playing, like qualifiers, the European Championships, or the World Cup. For friendlies, after all, for games of little consequence, it’s sad to lose so many players, like we do, for a week. Even though, rightly, wearing the national team jersey is always an achievement for the players and also something that gives them prestige and self-confidence,” Gasperini remarked.
Gasperini addressed the demanding schedule that his squad faces, noting the challenge of playing nine matches in 27 days. He commented, “This doesn’t just apply to us, but to all the teams that played in the cup competitions. It’s clear that in these nine games, we had a lot of tough matches, because in the league we still had to play in Naples, in the Champions League in Manchester, against Real Madrid. In short, there were very tough games.”
He highlighted the effective management of the squad during this intense period, stating, “Management wasn’t a problem, because it allowed us to rotate practically the entire squad and everyone played multiple times.”
Gasperini reflected on the distribution of playing time as well, mentioning, “There’s a fairly balanced playing time between those who played more and those who played less, and this was also an advantage in giving everyone a bit of awareness and value.” However, he recognized the difficulties posed by injuries, explaining, “The only thing that, as always, represents a problem is when an injury occurs, because we had Svilar out for nine games, Cristante who initially missed the first three or four games, Koné who returned today after a long time, and we lost Pellegrini.”
He concluded by acknowledging the competitive nature of his squad despite its numerical limitations: “It’s clear that, at times, you risk losing players, and it’s clear that our squad is competitive as it is, but numerically it’s not among the largest. Fortunately, we’ve had a few minor injuries, involving strong players, but not very long-term ones, nor even a large number of injuries, three or four at most.”
