Roma coach Paulo Fonseca admits it was ‘not a great performance’ against Genoa, but the points are all that mattered in the push for a top four spot.
Defender Gianluca Mancini got the only goal at the Stadio Olimpico, rising to meet a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner.
“We did not put in a great performance. We didn’t have many opportunities, neither did Genoa, so it wasn’t the way I think this team can play and usually does play.
Roma coach Paulo Fonseca admits it was ‘not a great performance’ against Genoa, but the points are all that mattered in the push for a top four spot.
Defender Gianluca Mancini got the only goal at the Stadio Olimpico, rising to meet a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner.
“We did not put in a great performance. We didn’t have many opportunities, neither did Genoa, so it wasn’t the way I think this team can play and usually does play.
“We were slow, moving the ball around too predictably. Genoa sat quite deep, but we can still do better,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“Dzeko started training again over the last few days, I think he’ll be working with the team within a few days. It was a difficult game for Borja Mayoral, as Genoa sat deep and those are the trickiest games for a striker.
“Borja worked well for the team to try to create spaces and draw defenders out. It won’t be easy for Pedro to play as a centre-forward, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan has done. It can be an option, otherwise we’ve got Dzeko.
“I always praise Bryan Cristante because he can play in any position we put him. I like it when players are ready to do anything for the team and that certainly describes Bryan.”
Roma continue their remarkable record against teams in the lower half of the table, but barely scraped a couple of draws against the bigger clubs.
“We have to take it one game at a time. Now we’ve got Shakhtar Donetsk, which will be difficult in the Europa League. We will try to improve against the bigger clubs and hope to finish in the top four, so we know that we cannot afford a mistake.”