Roma 3-0 Sassuolo: Gasperini's patched-up side turn volume into points

Roma beat Sassuolo 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on 7 November, and the scoreboard makes it look like a routine evening. Mario Hermoso scored on 27 minutes, a Sebastian Walukiewicz own goal doubled the lead three minutes later, and Rodrigo Mora added a third on 58. The win took Gian Piero Gasperini's side to 27 points, second in Serie A, one behind leaders Lazio and two clear of third-placed Inter Milan.

The context is what gives the result its weight. Three days earlier Roma had led 2-0 at Manchester United and lost 3-2. Paulo Dybala, Mile Svilar and Lorenzo Pellegrini were still missing, and the club picked up fresh injuries to Pierluigi Gollini, Gianluca Mancini and Devyne Rensch. Manu Koné returned from the thigh injury he suffered on 14 October. A squad in that condition does not usually produce a night this controlled.

Roma's attacking output against Sassuolo was well above what they had managed earlier in the season. They took 28 shots, against an average of 18.2 across their previous 2026/27 matches in all competitions. They generated 3.39 expected goals, against an average of 2.45. They made 425 passes in the opposition half, against an average of 271.2, and took 53 touches in the opposition box, against an average of 35. They won 12 corners; their earlier average this season was 6.2.

Sassuolo, by contrast, managed six shots, one on target, no big chances and 0.24 expected goals. Possession finished 65-35. Alberto Aquilani's side have now lost five consecutive matches and remain on 8 points.

The raw numbers and the match reports do not quite tell the same story. A 3-0 win with 3.39 xG and 28 shots reads like a side that could have scored five. The goals themselves were less emphatic: an own goal accounted for the second, and the game was effectively settled inside half an hour. Roma's chance creation did rise after the interval, which is where the third goal came from, but the margin between the two teams was already established by then.

What the performance does show is that Roma converted territory and volume into a comfortable win without several regulars. That is not the same as saying the process was flawless. Sassuolo offered almost nothing going forward, and a team with one shot on target and no big chances is not a demanding test of a patched-up defence. The more revealing fixtures are the ones Roma have already played this season: the 3-3 at Napoli, the 5-2 win at Udinese, the 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford. In those games the same attacking volume came with far more risk at the other end.

The league run is the part that holds. Roma have not lost a Serie A match since April, an unbeaten stretch of 18 matches, and they remain one of only two sides yet to lose this season, alongside Lazio. That is a body of work rather than a single night, and it has survived a European collapse and a treatment room that keeps filling up.

Sassuolo's situation is starker. A fifth straight defeat leaves them on 8 points with a 2-2-7 record, and Aquilani faced his former club for the first time in the middle of it. Whether that run changes the view of his position is not something the club has addressed.

Roma's next league fixture will say more about whether the attacking numbers against Sassuolo were a step up or a one-off against a struggling opponent. The injury list will shape that answer as much as the tactics will.