{"id":205244,"date":"2025-12-22T14:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T14:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/205244\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T14:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T14:56:09","slug":"you-need-more-to-be-a-centre-forward-than-being-tall-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/205244\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You need more to be a centre forward than being tall\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am not convinced,\u201d was the review of Evan Ferguson<\/a>\u2019s performance from Gian Piero Gasperini after Roma<\/a> suffered yet another defeat in the important head-to-head clashes at the top of Serie A. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just him\u201d he added, as he cast the net of disappointment over fellow summer loan signings Leon Bailey and Kostas Tsimikas. All three arrived from the Premier League and have intermittently featured, Gasperini repeatedly hinting they weren\u2019t doing enough in training to convince him they were worth a shot. <\/p>\n

When Bailey did come on in the 2-1 loss to Juventus on Saturday, he lasted 20 minutes before limping off with his umpteenth muscular injury. We are constantly told the Premier League sides train so much harder and with such commitment, yet these three have failed to impress Roma staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had to choose between Paulo Dybala and Ferguson, I\u2019d choose Dybala all day, every day,\u201d reiterated Gasperini. \u201cYou need more to be a centre forward than being tall. It\u2019s not just about technique, he hasn\u2019t settled into the spirit of this team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Roma might save money by cutting short the Ferguson loan from Brighton, Bailey\u2019s from Aston Villa, and Tsimikas\u2019s from Liverpool, to then bring in the correct ingredients for Gasperini\u2019s tactical recipe. It\u2019s a little surprising they are looking to the Premier League again for their replacements, above all Joshua Zirkzee from Manchester United, though at least he already has experience of Serie A from Bologna and Parma.<\/p>\n

When everyone in the league looks so eminently beatable, it makes for an unpredictable campaign. It\u2019s not so much may the best team win, more like who crawls over the finish line first. The table was shaken up again this weekend, also because for the first time this season it had gaps in the schedule. <\/p>\n

Napoli, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Bologna were all in Riyadh for the Supercoppa Italiana Final Four. Napoli will face Bologna for the trophy on Monday, so their week 16 fixtures won\u2019t be played until mid-January. This hands Juve time to close the gap, aided by a relatively weak run of opponents to finish off 2025 and begin 2026, certainly compared to rival teams over the same period.<\/p>\n

So are Juventus in the race?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you say things like that, it makes me want to bite you,\u201d Luciano Spalletti told a Sky Sport Italia reporter asking about title ambitions. But the assertion is not entirely implausible. Juventus have barely scraped a few good performances, but the overwhelming sense of inconsistency throughout Serie A means that\u2019s no reason to rule them out for the top prize.<\/p>\n

\"JuventusJuventus coach Luciano Spalletti during the Serie A match between Juventus and AS Roma at the Allianz stadium in Turin on Saturday. Photograph: Marco Bertorello \/ AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

Spalletti can tuck into his Christmas dinner knowing Juventus beat Roma 2-1 to close within a point of fourth place, securing three competitive wins in a row, with Lo\u00efs Openda finally breaking his Serie A duck, and Gleison Bremer returning for his first start since his meniscus tear on September 27th. The quality in the squad was always present, so with a little confidence, momentum and players beginning to gel with their new coach, there\u2019s plenty for fans to get their teeth into.<\/p>\n

Juventus remain painfully dependent on Kenan Yildiz, but there are worse players to rely on. He was once again sprinkling Turkish delight around the pitch against Roma, although he is, if anything, too generous in his work off the ball. \u201cHis opponents know how good he is, but I don\u2019t think he yet realises how good he is,\u201d said Spalletti. <\/p>\n

If it\u2019s not too late for Juventus to get into the Scudetto race, there might also be time for Fiorentina to save themselves from Serie B. They finally got their first win of the season, gifted an early red card by Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye\u2019s half-cooked sprint outside the area to meet Moise Kean, taking full advantage for a 5-1 victory. <\/p>\n

It was somehow not the dumbest goalkeeping error of the weekend in Serie A. That goes to Genoa\u2019s Nicola Leali for getting himself sent off within three minutes for clattering Daniel Maldini, and yet his team-mates held out until the 94th minute before capitulating 1-0 to Atalanta, via Isak Hien\u2019s late goal.<\/p>\n

Considering so many of Fiorentina\u2019s problems are obviously down to mentality, a success like this just before Christmas could be the turning point they need. The Viola are busy taking action anyway, approaching Tottenham Hotspur director Fabio Paratici to become the figurehead the club has been sorely lacking since the untimely death of Joe Barone in March 2024. <\/p>\n

Their fans had hoped for a club icon in Fiorentina bona fides such as Giancarlo Antognoni. Calling someone who spent decades at their bitter rivals Juventus, overseeing a financial scandal around artificially inflated transfer fees, will probably be harder to swallow than over-cooked turkey. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI am not convinced,\u201d was the review of Evan Ferguson\u2019s performance from Gian Piero Gasperini after Roma suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[93807,7523,61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-205244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-as-roma","9":"tag-evan-ferguson","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}