OTB Football
FOOTBALL DAILY: Ferguson's Roman empire, Celtic's Italian Job, and Slot on the Szoboszlai impact
23 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Off the Ball, GAA. So every environment that you're in around here, you're hoping to learn from and meeting so many people and seeing how people do things differently. And that builds, I suppose, knowledge. And you hope that with that knowledge, then you get kind of belief.
Join in the obsession. Subscribe now at offtheball.com forward slash join. Off the Ball's Football Daily.
Hello and welcome along to Friday's Football Daily. I'm Phil Egan. Coming up today, Evan Ferguson plays his part for Roma, who moved closer to a place in the last 16 of the Europa League. Martin O'Neill praises a strong Celtic away performance, Arna Slott on the leadership of Dominic Sabaslai at Liverpool, and Trinity Rodman becomes the highest paid female footballer in the world.
But first today, Evan Ferguson suffered a minor ankle injury. in Roma's 2-0 win over Stuttgart in the Europa League on Thursday night. But the Ireland international is still expected to be available for Sunday's Serie A clash with AC Milan. Ferguson suffered the knock during his role in the build-up to Roma's second goal in injury time.
Gian Piero Gasparini hasn't always had positive things to say about the 21-year-old and has brought in Daniel Mallon from Aston Villa. But the Roma boss did praise Ferguson's form of late, saying that he's now in tune with his Roma teammates. He said that in the last few games his attitude has changed, his condition has probably changed too.
Compared to a few months ago, he's a player who stays in the game. He seems to be a player who is present and not intangible like at the start of the season.
And on Friday's off-the-ball breakfast, Italian football journalist Daniele Fisichella joined Colin Buick and Shane Hannan and said Ferguson's time in Rome depends on whether or not if they manage to get another striker in the January transfer window.
He did. Okay. I watched the game. I looked at the newspapers today in Italy. He doesn't get a mark over six out of 10. He did okay. He had a few chances to score. Perhaps he lacked a little bit of conviction, but I do still feel his relationship with Gasperini is on a tight rope. I think Gasperini is still using the carrot and the stick with them because he motivates it by saying,
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Chapter 2: What impact did Evan Ferguson have in Roma's recent Europa League match?
saying things like this is a great opportunity for him being in Roma. He needs to take it with both hands. However, Roma have invested in the January transfer market. Now they've got two new strikers in Daniel Malen and Robinho Vaz. At the same time, Gasperini a few weeks ago said between Ferguson and Dybala, I would choose Dybala all day long because Dybala contributes more to the play.
However, last night he handed him a start ahead of the Argentine Dybala who came into the second half in a very important game that Roma won desertedly. What is this Ferguson situation? It is linked to the situation of other players at Roma. The fact that Artem Dovdik, the other recognised number nine, is going to be
out until March, certainly helps Ferguson in terms of staying in the Italian capital. But as I mentioned earlier, the acquisition on loan of Daniel Malen, who hit the ground running with a good goal at Torino last weekend, as well as the 20-year-old Robinho Vaz, fills more spots. My feeling is that there is still, obviously, 10 days of the transfer market, a bit less, perhaps.
If Roma manages to get another centre forward, I think Ferguson is on his way out. Whether he comes back to Brighton and then Brighton try to move him to another club, we still don't know. But if not, which looks very likely that Roma probably are not going to do any business, I think Ferguson is going to stay until the end of the season. And then there is a big question mark on him.
Chapter 3: How did Martin O'Neill evaluate Celtic's performance in their latest game?
Depends, of course, how Roma ends the season, whether they qualify for the Champions League and whether he continues to improve as he's done in the last season. five weeks, but is it enough to grant a 35 million buyout clause for him, which is hefty for a club like Rome?
Don't forget you can listen to Off The Ball Breakfast each and every weekday morning from half past seven. It's on the Go Loud app and it's also available on YouTube. Celtic are still in contention to qualify for the playoff round of the Europa League. Martin O'Neill's side drew 2-2 away to Bologna last night. They were 2-0 up in the first half.
Rio Atate scored before he was sent off 10 minutes before half time. O'Neill says it was a battling performance from his side.
I thought it was a magnificent effort by the team. We played some really great stuff and we naturally got the second goal and the sending off takes place. You're sitting back, you're having to defend and we had to sit in for long periods in the second half as they put a lot of pressure on us. Celtic's last game is at home to Utrecht next Thursday.
A win would guarantee them a place in the top 24. Aston Villa's 1-0 win away to Fenerbahce last night has secured their place in the last 16 with one game to spare. Jadon Sancho scored the only goal in Istanbul. It was Unai Emery's 100th game as a manager in the Europa League, a competition he's won four times, and he was pleased with the way they handled the hostile atmosphere.
We need to add experiences like today. It's very important for the players, how they were feeling, the atmosphere, how they were feeling, the opponent in their demand, and as well, testing is very important.
Nottingham Forest were beaten 1-0 away from home by Braga, which leaves Sean Dycheside in 16th place in the standings. Morgan Gibbs-White missed a penalty in the second half just before Ryan Yates then scored a known goal. And to round off a miserable night for Forest, Elliot Anderson was sent off in injury time. Rangers beat Ludogretz 1-0 at Ibrox, but they were already out of the competition.
Robbie Keane's Ferenc Varela side drew 1-1 with Panathinaikos to leave the Hungarian side inside the top eight. Liverpool are on the south coast of England tomorrow to take on Bournemouth in the Premier League. The champions are unbeaten since they lost to PSV at the end of November. They beat Marseille 3-0 away from home during the week.
One player who stood out for Arnaud Slot's side all season is midfielder Dominic Sabaslai. Slot has praised his leadership in a season where his side have been a little off the boil.
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