Jose Mourinho explains how he ‘got inside the heads’ of Roma players and why Italy is ‘the country with the best coaches’, but Paulo Dybala will skip the Europa League match against Servette.
The Special One spoke at a press conference after the 2-0 victory over Frosinone, which was only their second Serie A win of the season, coming days after a humiliating 4-1 defeat to newly-promoted Genoa.
With talk of the side in crisis, Mou called upon all of his vast experience to get them ready for this match.
“My response was to give the players a perfect state of mind. After frustration, pressure and criticism, you cannot go into a game like this with only heart. If you do that, you will get a red card, lose your head when it’s still 0-0 or even focus entirely on the clock if you are 1-0 up.
“To win this game, you must have emotional balance and keep your head. I transmitted this state of mind to my players. I think my experience of feeling these difficult moments helped me get inside the heads of my players.
“When Frosinone created chances, we never panicked. This was not the day for a marvellous performance, that was impossible, especially against this opponent.”
Mourinho has worked in the Premier League, LaLiga and Serie A, but his respect for Italian coaches remains unrivalled.
“I continue to say this, and some might not agree, but Italian football is the most tactical and that is why Italy is the country with the best coaches.”
This also explains why players like Evan Ndicka are struggling to adapt to Serie A after coming from the Bundesliga.
“He played in a three-man defence, but in a team with very different ideas. He has confidence when the others next to him are playing well. He is quick, but not very good in individual duels.
“Houssem Aouar is the same, he is very good on the ball, but off it everything is completely different. Romelu Lukaku already knows a lot and so does Renato Sanches, so they adapted faster, but the others all need time and positive results to build confidence.”
Dybala provided both assists for Lukaku and Lorenzo Pellegrini against Frosinone, but Mourinho made an important announcement in the press conference.
“Dybala will not play on Thursday, he reached the limit today. If he had told me that he couldn’t do it, then I would not have played him, but he told me the complete opposite.
“If we had not won today, the Colosseum would’ve exploded, so I had to risk it, but on Thursday I decide and he will not play.”