Gasperini's experiment fails, tarnishing AS Roma's positive start

ROME, SUNDAY — The change in the lineup in the front line made by Gian Piero Gasperini proved disastrous for AS Roma. "The Wolves" fell 0-1 to Torino on Sunday (14/9/2025) at the Olimpico Stadium in Rome, thus failing to maintain their record of winning at the start of the 2025-2026 season.

Gasperini did not make any changes to the composition of the defense and midfield players. On the contrary, he gave a first-time opportunity to the attacking duo, Paulo Dybala and Neil El Aynaoui, to play from the kickoff.

The two players replaced Evan Ferguson and Stephen El Shaarawy, who regularly appeared in the first two games of the season. On the other hand, Matias Soule is the only offensive player who has consistently been included in the starting lineup for three consecutive games.

Dybala and El Aynaoui, who were recruited from Lens in the French League, have not been able to make an impact in enhancing Roma's offensive performance. In fact, this change was intended to improve the quality of an attack that has only scored one goal in the first two matches.

The overhaul did not go smoothly. Dybala could only register three shots from outside the penalty area. Although he was able to create two opportunities, Dybala's performance was still far from his actual quality.

El Aynaoui was unable to provide a significant offensive impact. No shots or key passes were produced by the midfielder from Morocco. In fact, he only delivered one pass in the final third of Roma's defense.

In order to make changes, Gasperini substituted Dybala and El Aynoui with Ferguson and Tommaso Baldanzi after halftime. However, these changes did not bring about significant improvements.

"We didn't create enough danger in the first half. However, we played in high temperatures, which quickly drained our energy, given our style of play," Gasperini told DAZN after the match.

Torino was able to surprise the home team. Through a counter-attack scheme, Torino's striker, Giovanni Simeone, shook the net of Roma with a long-range shot from outside the penalty area in the 59th minute.

The goal came just less than a minute after the failure of Roma midfielder, Bryan Cristante, to capitalize on Soule's cross. Cristante's header inside the penalty area went wide to the right of the Torino goal.

The defeat to Torino caused Si Serigala to fail to compete in the upper echelons of the Italian League. Roma was unable to maintain the winning streak that had already been achieved by Napoli and Juventus, on Saturday (13/9/2025).

Napoli, which won the duel 3-1 against Fiorentina, leads the standings with a goal productivity advantage over Juve. Meanwhile, Juve triumphed in the Italian derby against Inter Milan with a score of 4-3.

In total, Roma had 22 shots in Torino's defensive zone, but only five were on target.

The goalless draw underscored Roma's lack of attacking prowess. They actually created 1.3 expected goals (xG). This means the Wolves should have scored at least one goal against Torino.

In addition, Roma's play was also very eager to win. They recorded 73 percent possession of the ball, completing 528 successful passes with a passing accuracy rate of 90 percent.

In fact, in the first five minutes, Roma recorded 100 percent ball possession. The flow of the ball predominantly occurred in the defensive zone of Torino.

This situation caused Roma to fail to match their achievements from the 2021-2022 season when they collected nine points from their first three matches. Additionally, Roma also failed to maintain their unbeaten record against Torino at home in the previous five matches.

Roma ultimately suffered their first defeat to Torino at the Olimpico since January 6, 2020. At that time, Roma lost 0-2 due to two goals from Andrea Belotti.

"We did not play poorly as we were able to dominate the field. However, we lacked accuracy in our shots, final passes, and the precision of our through balls," said Gasperini, former coach of Atalanta.

Conversely, Torino brought home three points from Rome, despite only producing eight shots, four of which were on target.

Simeone has established himself as the first player to contribute a goal for Torino this season. After losing to Inter in the first match and then drawing 0-0 against Fiorentina, Torino managed to secure their first victory under the management of coach Marco Baroni. Last season, Baroni coached the team from the Italian capital, which is also the eternal rival of Roma, Lazio.

"This positive result is thanks to the players' collective performance. Most importantly, we can build on this result in the next game," Baroni said, as reported by Tuttosport.