{"id":20234,"date":"2025-08-24T13:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/20234\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T13:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T13:08:08","slug":"he-put-his-bulldog-body-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/20234\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He put his bulldog body everywhere\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixty-three thousand screaming, singing AS Roma<\/a> fans filled the old, grey Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night, fuelled by hope of ending long championship and Champions League droughts thanks to a dynamic new manager and the best goalkeeper in Italy.<\/p>\n

And also, a new 20-year-old striker from Bettystown.<\/p>\n

Evan Ferguson<\/a> made his Roma debut and while he didn\u2019t continue his preseason scoring pace that amplified fans\u2019 dreams, he showed flashes that may make him the missing piece in Roma\u2019s confounding puzzle.<\/p>\n

He had three shots in the first 16 minutes, showed remarkable footwork and had a perfect cross that Manu Kon\u00e9 botched by missing a near empty net. <\/p>\n

Brazilian Wesley Franca, another young acquisition, stole the glory. His goal in the 53rd minute gave Roma a 1-0 win over Bologna, a Champions League side last season.<\/p>\n

But in the big picture, Ferguson looked as if he\u2019s the perfect fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cFerguson played a great match,\u201d new manager Gian Piero Gasperini said. \u201cHe is a good player. From an athletic point of view he still needs to grow. He played little last year and needs to get used to it. But tonight he showed some important qualities for us and this year will surely give us great satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson has entered a soccer cauldron as hot as Rome\u2019s August weather. Saturday was Roma\u2019s 18th straight sell-out of more than 60,000. The club boasts 44,000 season ticket holders and one station, Roma Radio, broadcasts only AS Roma 24 hours a day, seven days a week.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re frustrated.<\/p>\n

This club has only three Serie A titles in its 99 years, the last coming 25 seasons ago. They finished fifth last season and haven\u2019t made the Champions League since 2018-19.<\/p>\n

Yet they have a strong foundation with last season\u2019s Serie A best goalkeeper in Mile Svilar and a solid midfield. What they need is a striker. Artem Dovbyk, last season\u2019s leading scorer with 17, was inconsistent and had a weak preseason.<\/p>\n

Paulo Dybala, Roma\u2019s marquee player, is nursing a leg injury and can\u2019t go 90 minutes. Forward Leon Bailey, on loan from Aston Villa, tore a leg muscle in his first training session on Wednesday and is out at least a month. This is a team that finished only ninth in scoring last season with 56 goals.<\/p>\n

So here comes Ferguson, three seasons removed from scoring 10 goals in 25 games as an 18-year-old for Brighton. The cheers and chants from 70 Roma fans greeting him at the airport upon his arrival on July 20th were still ringing in his ears four days later when he debuted with four goals in his first friendly.<\/p>\n

Granted, it was against fourth division UniPomezia, but he landed six goals in his first three friendlies and a game-winning assist.<\/p>\n

\"EvanEvan Ferguson congratulates Wesley Franca after he scored Roma’s goal in the Serie A win over Bologna in Rome. Photograph: Tiziana Fabi\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Will he be the Evan Ferguson who was one of the Premier League\u2019s best young players three years ago or the injury-plagued player who scored only once in 23 games last season for Brighton, and West Ham on loan?<\/p>\n

\u201cFerguson is the classic guy who did very well then stalled a bit, perhaps due to injury or other circumstances,\u201d Gasperini said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t live up to expectations. But it\u2019s a classic situation where you can help this guy get back to the level he was [at] a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

If anyone can, it\u2019s Gasperini. Before arriving at Roma this season, Gasperini spent nine years guiding Atalanta into the Serie A elite. They reached the Champions League five times in the last seven seasons and won the Europa League in 2024 in Dublin. He helped striker Mateo Retegui lead Serie A in scoring with 25 goals last season and Gianluca Scamacca score 19 the season before.<\/p>\n

Journalists covering Roma say Ferguson fits Gasperini\u2019s high-pressing system. He\u2019s faster and more fluid than Dovbyk, who plays more stationary. He replaced Ferguson in the 74th minute on Saturday and by this time next week will likely be elsewhere. Napoli and Milan have reportedly shown interest.<\/p>\n

Roma don\u2019t allow players to talk to the press in the mixed zone after Serie A games but in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this month, Ferguson said Gasperini may be the key to jump-starting his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that many strikers have become famous under the coach,\u201d he said. \u201cHe scores a lot. It\u2019s definitely a positive thing for me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

How positive? He already has a goal for goals.<\/p>\n

\"EvanEvan Ferguson fights for the ball with Bologna defender Nicolo Casale. Photograph: Tiziana Fabi\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t usually think about an exact number of goals,\u201d he said. \u201cI definitely want to score in every game, even though I know it\u2019s not easy. Twenty goals? Let\u2019s hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n

He could only have had a better debut if he scored the game winner. In only the fifth minute, he evaded his marker and went one-on-one with goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, who blocked his left-footed shot. Six minutes later, Skorupski stopped his powerful shot from the edge of the box and in the 16th minute Ferguson\u2019s charging header just missed.<\/p>\n

He nearly sealed the win in the 63rd minute with a beautiful cross across the box to Kon\u00e9 who somehow fired wide with Skorupski completely out of position.<\/p>\n

Corriere dello Sport, the Rome-based national newspaper, gave Ferguson an excellent rating of 7, writing, \u201cDynamic, reactive, purposeful, generous\u201d and also \u201cThe Irishman, at a certain point, looked like one of those pinball machine springs from the 80s: cushions, touches, supports, he put his bulldog body everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great club with ambition,\u201d Ferguson told La Gazzetta. \u201cWe can do it. As players and as a team, we must all push in that direction. The fans deserve a team higher than fifth place. When I played in Rome with Brighton, there was a special atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players seem possessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

His future is back on track \u2013 for now. A successful debut in his pocket, he walked into the warm Rome night with the sound of 63,000 of his new fans singing \u201cGrazie Roma\u201d ringing in his ears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sixty-three thousand screaming, singing AS Roma fans filled the old, grey Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night, fuelled by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[17615,18,16756,19,17,6634,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-20234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-as-roma","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-evan-ferguson","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}