Roma go to Udine tomorrow for a Serie A match against Udinese without Paulo Dybala, Manu Koné, Mile Svilar and Lorenzo Pellegrini. It is the sort of fixture that can look routine on paper and then become anything but, especially with Roma also looking ahead to a Champions League trip to Manchester next week.
That is why the search around Udinese Vs Roma is about more than a weekend league game. Roma are coming off a 4-2 win over Cagliari, but they have to manage bodies as well as points, and the absences matter because they strip options from a squad that still has to keep pressure on Inter and Lazio. Pierluigi Gollini has been filling in for Mile Svilar, while Emanuele Lulli has scored in consecutive Serie A appearances, giving Roma at least a few recent signs of depth.
Matías Soulé is the player most likely to shape the attack. He has three goals and three assists across all competitions in 770 minutes of play, and he is expected to operate behind Donyell Malen with Rodrigo Mora more centrally located. That kind of form changes the way Roma can start matches and the way they can solve them when the first plan is not enough.
Udinese, though, arrive with their own reasons to make this harder than Roma would like. They are in the relegation zone with five points from nine matches, drew 0-0 against Parma in midweek and have not won a Serie A match since August. That does not make them harmless; it makes them awkward, and Roma have a habit of turning games like this into tight, uneven contests when a clean path looks available.
So the immediate question is not whether Roma have enough quality to win. They do. It is whether Gasperini can use the players he has left in a way that protects the result now without leaving the squad short for Manchester next week. If Roma manage both, this becomes a useful away win. If they do not, it becomes one more match that asked more of them than the table suggested.
