Eusebio Di Francesco says Justin Kluivert needs time to adjust to life at Roma, adding he will need ’22 or 23’ players contributing this season.
The Giallorossi ended their pre-season tour of the United States last night with a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid – with the Coach substituting his entire starting eleven during the course of the match in New Jersey.
Speaking afterwards, the Stadio Olimpico boss insisted that despite all the changes, he knows who will be starting certain games.
Eusebio Di Francesco says Justin Kluivert needs time to adjust to life at Roma, adding he will need ’22 or 23’ players contributing this season.
The Giallorossi ended their pre-season tour of the United States last night with a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid – with the Coach substituting his entire starting eleven during the course of the match in New Jersey.
Speaking afterwards, the Stadio Olimpico boss insisted that despite all the changes, he knows who will be starting certain games.
“I want to make it clear that I know perfectly well which ones will be the starters for certain games,” Di Francesco commented.
“But you can’t just have one player when you have so many games over the course of the season. This goes for all the positions.
“For example there is Kluivert, who really has talent but will also clearly need some time to adjust to the new system and the new surroundings.
“But I really hope that I will have 22 or 23 players that I can fully count on over the course of the season.”
Despite Roma’s fitness currently being ‘not brilliant,’ Di Francesco is satisfied with his players’ efforts on the US tour.
“I think that a good approach to all the games, even against Tottenham.
“Tonight we started well today and then made a big mistake, and this allowed Real to play on the counter-attack a bit more.
“In the first half we won the ball back a lot high and created some chances.
“As for our fitness, perhaps we were not brilliant but that is normal at this stage of pre-season.”
The Giallorossi now head back to Italy, where they open their Serie A campaign against Torino next weekend.