Jose Mourinho made an extraordinary confession after Roma fought back for a 1-1 draw away to Juventus. ‘I told my players at half-time that I was ashamed of them.’
Dusan Vlahovic had opened the scoring within one minute and 16 seconds with a perfect free kick off the underside of the crossbar, leaving Rui Patricio rooted to the spot.
The Giallorossi simply weren’t in the game until the second half and equalised from a corner with Paulo Dybala’s acrobatic assist for a Tammy Abraham header.
The coach was spotted chatting to Max Allegri as they walked off at the final whistle. What did he say?
“That we were unbelievably lucky in the first half and in the second we did something more,” Mourinho told DAZN.
The Special One didn’t only reserve that point of view for Allegri, as he was very harsh with his squad during the break.
“I told my players at half-time that I was ashamed of them. It wasn’t a tactical issue, it was their attitude. We can’t come here and play like this.
“I was telling Salvatore (Foti) on the bench, pray that it’s only 1-0. Because losing 1-0 is a fantastic result after that first half performance and we were very fortunate.
“We did absolutely nothing, it was pure luck. It was a very different team in the second half, although unfortunately I didn’t have many options to bring off the bench, with Zaniolo and Wijnaldum injured.
“Max with all the problems he has with injuries, was still able to make changes. If I analyse the second half, we deserved to win that 1-0, but the first half was awful.”
Mourinho brought on Stephan El Shaarawy and Nikola Zalewski at half-time to shake things up.
“It was tough for me to replace Gianluca Mancini, because the defenders were the victims of a generally horrible team performance. I am very happy with the second half and it’s an important point for us. It feels positive after a first half like that.
“I want to be as honest as possible with the people at home. I could’ve very easily come here and said I was a genius of a coach to change things at half-time.”
He always put blame on the players. Mourinhos football is not the best for players to perform well
This is pure psychology not blame game. Gotta be logical.if u don’t like the man, stop listening to him.
The players are the ones actually playing the game…
“It wasn’t a tactical issue.”
Then why did you change formation at half time?
Not PhD Dinosaur, creator and lover of all things polygon. The geometry legend of calcio bed time was pleased with a draw, but he would have preferred the Samp 0-0.
Lord Allegri, LMAO, funniest nickname and comments on here. Can’t stand Allegri either.
That’s Mourinho for you. He has a way of turning wrong into right if you are a true footballer you will understand this. He is a psychologist, a good one for that matter. He can grind a result he wants. Never let him sit at the top for 3 games else he runs away with the league
Mou is never behind anyone tactically, I expected a win in 2nd half.
He didn’t attack or blame the players. With the ambition Roma has it needs a particular heart and soul, especially when you go down early. I give him credit for taking off Karsdorp because Celik was solid and didn’t lack intensity like Rick. Each game is a final and I am glad we’re learning to not lose. Forza Roma
Offcourse the players are ones are playing ,not him if you child don’t listen to you who to blame?