Eusebio Di Francesco claims Roma need ‘a nice little prayer’ to get them out of their injury crisis ahead of Saturday’s Serie A clash with Cagliari.
The match kicks off tomorrow at 14:00 GMT – click here for a preview.
“I have to say that all our midfielders are growing in both phases of the game,” he said at a Press conference.
Eusebio Di Francesco claims Roma need ‘a nice little prayer’ to get them out of their injury crisis ahead of Saturday’s Serie A clash with Cagliari.
The match kicks off tomorrow at 14:00 GMT – click here for a preview.
“I have to say that all our midfielders are growing in both phases of the game,” he said at a Press conference.
“However, they still need to improve a bit. I expect a physical game, in which we’ll have to be wary of Pavoletti, who’s very good with his head.
“They’re good at exploiting their physicality and they’re good at set-pieces. We must improve in the final third and many other areas, but we can’t expect everything immediately.
“We need to protect our defensive line better, but we’re working on it and I’d like the team to improve in that aspect above all.
“Florenzi? He’ll play as a full-back tomorrow, although he can play further afield in the future.
“Fazio has recovered, but we have a new problem because Manolas picked up a knock and has a 50 percent chance of making it.
“He’ll be called up, but we’ll make a decision on him. His leg swelled up and he almost couldn’t walk, but we hope he’ll recover quickly.
“Pastore and Perotti could get some minutes, but they won’t start. N’Zonzi and Cristante have played a lot, but to rest them we need an extra defender.
“I could also use [Alessio] Riccardi, who was born in 2001, and then in Rome we can celebrate them like Zaniolo, who has become the phenomenon of the year, before knocking him down just as quickly. But right now we need a nice little prayer for all our injuries.
“Marcano? He trained very well and could play tomorrow, I’m still weighing things up. Why so many injuries? It’s because of a bit of everything.
“There’s human error for the choices I’ve made, because for example Pellegrini wanted to recover but I wanted to have him back and something unexpected happened, so sometimes being hasty entails taking risks.
“Still, there’s a need to get our players back because we have so many matches coming up.”