After the home match against Bologna, coach De Rossi commented on the Giallorossi’s performance as follows.
It wasn’t the usual Roma, there was even a bit of brilliance in front of goal. Today the ball struggled to enter. How do you read this race?
“What you said is correct. Maybe we were less brilliant than other times, but we had a team in front of us that played well. They make you seem less brilliant because they extend the distances when you go under pressure, you struggle to catch them because they move so much, which is something that had distinguished us, almost always.
In front of goal, it happens (to be less brilliant, ed.): we have won matches in which we were almost perfect in front of goal, and perhaps the opponent had shot a little more. Today it went like this. Congratulations to Bologna, because they didn’t steal anything, they did what they wanted. We saw the numbers, it was a fairly balanced race. Especially in the first half, at 0-0, we managed to be dangerous before them. Sometimes, unlocking it gives you that extra gear, that energy that perhaps we were about to miss.
As for nervousness, there was a bit. We can’t get so nervous about a wrong yellow card (to Paredes, ed.), because it certainly wasn’t right. But first of all, we didn’t lose because of that and we can’t let that make us nervous: combined with the goal we conceded immediately afterwards, it took us a bit astray. But then the boys performed until the end.”
Can there be some mental tiredness?
“No, because it would be serious. We are adults, we are experts, we have been doing this job for a long time, we are used to managing positive emotions and we must be used to managing negative ones too. In direct clashes, we had been good so far. We came from a series of fairly tough matches, and we had managed them well from a nervous point of view.
We didn’t play an exceptional match, and during the second at 1-3 we seemed inferior to Bologna, but as regards the rest of the match, and the opportunities, I think there was balance.”
From a mental point of view, you have let yourself be a bit dragged towards excessive energy expenditure.
“Yes, I was a footballer, it’s true that you get nervous every now and then, but it shouldn’t influence your way of being on the pitch and your performance in the match. Even if then, if you look at the numbers and the performance, we were inside the match. Perhaps, less well than usual, but they didn’t give up, they didn’t ‘got off’ completely, as they say in Rome.
If we want to be perfect, if we want to continue this run-up, which as far as I’m concerned started three months ago, we have to be good at managing moments. And not only from the point of view of nervousness, because the referee gives a yellow card: an experienced team must be capable of not conceding a goal in the 44th minute and, after the 2-1, realize that the inertia of the match was on the side our side and we would have had time to try to equalize it, while the 3-1 basically killed us.
I can’t say anything to them, except that mistakes are made, and that we will try to improve. The attitude he had, more nervousness or less nervousness, was the usual one of the guys I know, and who I always have to thank.”
How important is it to have recovered a player like Azmoun?
“We have some very important forwards, different from each other. Tammy played an honest game, and sometimes you’re less brilliant after such a long injury: there are some ups and downs when you come back.
Azmoun only recently returned, so I didn’t think it was appropriate to throw him in straight away. I knew they were going to do a relay. I’m happy that he made the go, because he is an important, quality player for us. He is different from the other two attackers and will be very useful to us, as is Tammy, who sacrificed a lot on Thursday.”
How will you manage the energy between Udine, Napoli and the commitment with Leverkusen?
“We haven’t had much help with energy management, but that’s another matter: we won’t go back there again. Going to play for twenty minutes is not a question of energy. We would probably struggle physically more training in Trigoria, but mentally, both the journey and the fact of preparing for another match after just two days will not be easy. But let’s pretend it’s a Europa League match, which always happens on Thursdays, and let’s go.
We lost a match, and we come away disappointed but not destroyed. The race is still long, as far as the championship is concerned, and the same goes for the cup. Now, there are two battles left before reaching the final. We are playing against an undefeated team. Perhaps the only undefeated in the world. We know it will be difficult, but we are very positive, apart from tonight’s result.”
How much are Atalanta afraid of the Champions League race?
“We fear and respect everyone. They are behind, they have a point less and they have a game that they will recover at the end of the championship, once the games are over. We know it will be a difficult road, it has been from the beginning. Our problem is not the points that separated us from fourth in the standings, but how many teams we had in front of us.
When you have many teams in front of you, you also have a special team like Bologna, who makes this very long run, Atalanta who is back in the race and Lazio themselves who are at 3 points. There is. We have to run, there are a few games left, all difficult. We knew we would all have to face top-level teams. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes you have to compliment your opponent.”
2024-04-22 19:27:08
#Rossi #destroyed #race #long
