Paulo Fonseca praised Roma “courage” after a goalless draw with Inter, but “we really need to do better on the final attacking movements.”
The Giallorossi were forced to reshuffle their XI, as Pau Lopez picked up a muscular injury this morning and Edin Dzeko was unable to start due to a flu virus, so Nicolò Zaniolo was surprisingly used as a False 9.
Antonio Mirante proved decisive in goal, making two big saves on Romelu Lukaku and Matias Vecino.
Paulo Fonseca praised Roma “courage” after a goalless draw with Inter, but “we really need to do better on the final attacking movements.”
The Giallorossi were forced to reshuffle their XI, as Pau Lopez picked up a muscular injury this morning and Edin Dzeko was unable to start due to a flu virus, so Nicolò Zaniolo was surprisingly used as a False 9.
Antonio Mirante proved decisive in goal, making two big saves on Romelu Lukaku and Matias Vecino.
“We got our choices wrong in the final third, but it was still a good game. Our intention was to play and hold the ball, I feel we did that and at times were in total control of the match,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“The team improved a great deal in all areas, but we do need to work still on the final attacking movements. That is the area where we really have to do better.
“It’s true that most of Inter’s chances were gifted to them by our errors when playing out from the back, but that happened because we played with courage and stuck to our guns. We made mistakes at times, but the courage eventually does pay off and we’ll be more effective with this approach.
“In order to play against a side like Inter, we needed courage. It’s important to keep the ball against this type of opponent and we always tried to take control of the game.”
Roma kept a clean sheet at San Siro, as Inter failed to find the net for the first time this season in all competition.
“Gianluca Mancini and Chris Smalling were very secure back there, but the whole team defended well. We had intended to defend by keeping the ball.
“Mirante is a very good goalkeeper, he had an excellent performance tonight.”
Davide Santon also pulled up after only 15 minutes, and he was replaced by Leonardo Spinazzola rather than Alessandro Florenzi.
“It’s a matter of options. Florenzi works well in training, but when Santon was hurt, I thought for this game Spinazzola was a better solution, as he has more pace. I think he did very well when he came on.
“Now we are up against Wolfsberg, it is a decisive match for us in the Europa League.”