Jose Mourinho highlighted the need for ‘maturity’ following Thiago Pinto’s suggestions that Juventus linked Nicolo Zaniolo may leave Roma this summer.
The Giallorossi currently sit 6th in the Serie A table, four points behind 5th place Juventus, and a win against a struggling Rossoblu side tomorrow is crucial if the Roman side want to stay involved in the race for a top four finish this season.
Speaking to gathered reporters in a press conference, Mourinho first discussed the physical condition of Lorenzo Pellegrini, as well as tomorrow’s opponents Genoa.
“Lorenzo is not called up, he’s not ready to play yet. Against Genoa it’s a difficult game, they have changed coach but they also have a lot of options. It’s difficult to know if these players will be ready to start. It’s important for us to understand Genoa’s game plan.
“We’re playing at home, our fans are coming back, we’ve come from two consecutive wins and it would be important to make it three in a row. We have to concentrate on this, we studied Genoa’s game against Udinese. Let’s think about ourselves and the fans who are coming back to the Olimpico and do everything we can to win.”
He spoke about talismanic forward Nicolo Zaniolo and sporting director Thiago Pinto’s suggestions that there are no guarantees that the player will stay in Rome.
“The director’s words are normal. It’s difficult for Tiago Pinto, who is honest and straightforward and doesn’t hide or sell smoke, to say that a player will be here 100% next season. We need maturity, a key word in our Roma project. I think it’s an important word for you too.
“We as a club are showing maturity, even if for some it’s not true, the project and the way I and the director communicate show maturity and the way our fans accept and behave shows maturity. Maturity is also needed on your part.
“Tiago’s response was taken out of context, there is a need not to turn an honest sentence into something that wasn’t enough to be in the headlines for a week. I am happy with this market. If you ask me if I prefer what other teams have done, of course I do.
“I have been in the market of other teams, with that profile, but I am happy with our market profile and because we are stronger today than we were on December 31. We have lost players who haven’t played much with us and we have picked up others who have played more than them in a fortnight.
“Our objective is always to improve. My aim is always to improve in every market until the last one with Roma, which only the Friedkins know when that will be. The objective is that important players stay with us, in the specific case of Nicolò until 2024 he is our player.”
The Portuguese coach commented on the difficulty of preparing for tomorrow’s match against Genoa knowing that the game against Inter is approaching soon.
“We haven’t talked about Inter or thought about them. The analysts haven’t done any work on Inter either.
“We’re focused on this game, I’m sure I’ll be here tomorrow when the game is over to start thinking about the Coppa Italia game, but we haven’t thought about that game for a minute so far. Tomorrow is too important for us, like every game. We’ll just concentrate on tomorrow.”
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid coach spoke about Matias Vina and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
“The other times he came back with minutes in his legs, or injured, this time he came back without playing, happy because his national team won and it is important for a guy who dreams of the World Cup with his country.
“Today we are a more balanced team, with more options, we made the market with this intention, we made the team more balanced. We have Maitland-Niles as an extra option for Vina and Karsdorp and in a week like this it is important to have options.”
Mourinho discussed if Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sergio Oliveira can play together and if Pellegrini will be fit enough to face Inter.
“Against Milan we played with Veretout and Mkhitaryan. Sergio Oliveira is more positional than Veretout. We have a group of players there who give us options. When we think about the future and improving all the time, obviously we will need the pure regista, which we don’t have yet.
“It’s not easy for us to play with a single player there, but now we have these options. Bove is also growing a lot, I’m very happy because he’s a guy with quality and maturity, he doesn’t look like a kid. We’re doing well, it’s a squad that’s more balanced at the moment.
“We can play with three players there. When a team works together with the same coach, they understand roles better, they are prepared to play in different ways. Lorenzo may be back on Tuesday. Yesterday he trained, today he did everything with the team. Tomorrow he needs to rest because he’s trained so much.”
The Roma coach spoke about if it was more important to win the Coppa Italia or finish in the top four this season, and how much he believes in the new training systems.
“I still think the easiest way to win is to have the best players. I believe in training methods and that is why I am a coach, otherwise I would be a sporting director or president. I am a coach in body and soul and that’s why I believe in it.
“Even today, when we are in the copy-paste generation, everyone gets into the work that the top coaches do. Everyone is different, but the structure of coaching today is the copy-paste generation. It’s hard to say what’s more important, we’ll go for both.
“If we are in the conference league we go with everything we have. As long as the maths tells us it’s possible we have to play to win games and see if it’s possible to finish in the top 4. To finish fourth is important economically and for prestige, but to win a competition is to win and I believe so much that it is a bit like a positive virus, a way of being and thinking.
“Winning is fundamental and would be very important for us. Let’s see, for now the number one objective is to win against Genoa.”
He discussed the importance of the remaining months of this season.
“It’s important now because when this period is over the season is over, the table can’t be changed, the titles won or not are there. That’s why every game is fundamental.
“Every game, every point and every detail, the Coppa Italia, the Conference League, me and the players, now it’s us. We’ll see if we can count Spinazzola as well by the end of this season.”
Finally, Mourinho touched on how teams line up to face the Giallorossi this season.
Roma v Sampdoria is a game in which I asked the referee why he gave a yellow to the goalkeeper in the 85th minute when he should have given it from the 15th. Genoa against Udinese had a very high number of fouls, they’re not a team that doesn’t let the opponent play and if they give you 10-20-30 fouls during the game, it’s a number that’s not possible in modern football.
“Most teams want to play, since I came back to Italy, Fiorentina played in a fantastic way against us, even with Sassuolo, nowadays football has more games than before, because you used to know what could happen.”
🎙 La conferenza stampa di José Mourinho alla vigilia di #RomaGenoa https://t.co/TpevL5gNkh
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) February 4, 2022
Reading a Mourinho article is like a Buffone article, it’s never ending long like the dead sea scrolls.
Roma need to act more professional when it comes to discussing important players futures with the media. Unless you are looking at selling shut up , there’s no need for pinto to make these comments …it’s only reinforces the selling mentality that all us Roma fans are sick of!