After a convincing 3-0 win at home against Sassuolo, Roma get ready for a difficult away match against one of the most surprising teams of this season so far, Parma. Coach Eusebio Di Francesco discussed his expectations for the game in the pre match press conference: "Parma have racked up 25 points already. They can go direct or hit you on the break. We’ll need to play our own game but we’ll also need to make sure we don’t give them too many chances. We’re improving – but there’s ground we still need to make up to get back into the Champions League positions. The way we approach the game from the start tomorrow will be key. It’ll be a completely different game from the one against Sassuolo."
Di Francesco was also asked about the racism issue after the abuse received by Koulibaly at San Siro against Inter: “I’m 100% in agreement with Carlo Ancelotti - who has spoken about the
issue of racism in the past too. You should simply stop in the event of
incidents such as those at the San Siro. If no one stops the match, it’s
up to us to do so, we have to do something. Often people go to the stadium to offend people, more so than cheering
on their side. We need to take a hard line – there’s a lot more football
can do on the matter.”
Finally, the Giallorossi's boss gave some hints about the line-up that will face Parma and on the possible moves of the club on the transfer market: "Dzeko and Schick are both in contention to start the match. Perotti’s
not fully fit yet – he’s been out a while so we need to monitor him.
Lorenzo Pellegrini had his first full training session yesterday; I need
to assess whether he can be involved while El Shaarawy could start but he is not ready to play a full game yet. The transfer window? We have to look at every position, then we will evaluate the situation. I hope that the players that will stay at the club show that it's their desire to stay here. But now the priority is to get some points"
