Paulo Dybala reveals what Daniele De Rossi unleashed within the Roma squad after Jose Mourinho, as the team goal was ‘the kind of thing we tested in training.’
The Giallorossi have seemingly put the Jose Mourinho era well and truly behind them, notching up three consecutive victories under new boss Daniele De Rossi.
This was the most convincing by far, sweeping Cagliari aside 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico with a Dybala brace, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Dean Huijsen goals.
It was also a rare clean sheet, the first in Serie A since a 2-0 win over Napoli on December 23.
“We are happy, I think we played the game we wanted to, pressed hard, understood the moments of the match,” Dybala told Sky Sport Italia.
“It was our third straight win, but the first we managed feeling pretty calm, as we had suffered a little in the other two. Now we have a big game coming up.”
The second goal was particularly impressive, a sweeping team move started by the Dybala dummy in midfield and concluded by La Joya after a Stephan El Shaarawy nutmeg and Romelu Lukaku feint.
“The move was fantastic, the kind of thing we had tested out in training during the week, with the ball to feet. The pitch is not in the best condition, but it was a great goal.”
It seems a completely different team to the one that was struggling under Mourinho, and not just because De Rossi changed their tactics from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3.
“Many things have changed, Mourinho and De Rossi are different. We also looked inside ourselves after what happened,” added the Argentina international.
“De Rossi knows this city and club more than anyone. He brought a lot of enthusiasm, made us understand many things and we pulled out something that we had within us and weren’t calling on before.
“I feel that these long weeks of training without games in the middle really helped us to understand De Rossi’s ideas.”
Roma are now one point off Atalanta in fourth place, but La Dea have a game in hand to be played against Inter on February 28.
Meanwhile, this weekend it is going to be a massive showdown between Roma and leaders Inter.
“Obviously, that is our objective. We know it is very difficult, as Inter are in my view the best team in Serie A at the moment, but we are in front of our crowd, with our fans behind us and hope to do well.”
Paulo Dybala finishes off a lovely team move in front of the Curva Sud. 💎
Roma are FLYING under DDR. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/6sijmdKXr1
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 5, 2024