Jose Mourinho hit back at those who ‘told me it was 19 months since Roma beat a top five club’ and explains how Tammy Abraham has changed his game to put a brace past Atalanta.
The Giallorossi famously struggled to beat any big clubs in recent years, but this was a surprise 4-1 success in Bergamo.
It was achieved despite having just 29 per cent of possession, as Abraham opened the scoring within 60 seconds, then Nicolò Zaniolo struck on the counter for his first Serie A goal since July 2020.
Chris Smalling met a Jordan Veretout free kick at the back post on the volley before Abraham completed his brace.
“The spirit was fantastic, the players clearly knew playing against Atalanta, you can never control the game for 90 minutes and they would have to defend deep at times,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“The team was excellent in every way. The referee was excellent, because the way Atalanta play with aggression and physicality, we needed a referee of this level and experience.
“We did so well with the duels in the box, were aware of the dangers, and then interpreted the moves out from the back even better. We did well in everything.
“Rick Karsdorp had his shinpad completely wrecked, but he knew we had nobody else on the bench to fill in and made the sacrifice.
“I kept hearing people say that it was 19 months since Roma beat a top five team. Now you can say it’s been 20 minutes.
“I don’t even want to talk about Inter, because for me they are on a level above all the other Serie A sides, but against the likes of Atalanta, Milan, Napoli, it’s not enough just to have tactical organisation or physical aggression, you need everything to be perfect.
“This was not a team that felt, and I use that in the past sense, confident when things went wrong. When we were under pressure, we didn’t do well. It has been fantastic for me to see the way we were able to suffer.
“In the past, if we’d conceded a goal on the stroke of half-time like we did today, we’d have crumbled. Instead, we continued with the same approach and this is a really big step forward for us in terms of mentality.”
Abraham scored his first Serie A brace today and helped to silence some of his critics.
“Of course he can score 20 goals per season, as he did it in England and I am not worried. We are not a team who dominate every game, that is impossible, and Abraham comes from a culture at Chelsea where his team always has the ball and controls the game.
“A centre-forward for us cannot just focus on scoring goals, he needs to do other work too. It’s important to have a reference point who wins duels with people like Palomino, Djimsiti and Toloi. Abraham has improved so much in that sense, I am sure he will score goals too.”
Zaniolo was booked in the opening minutes for a lunge, but went on to score his first Serie A goal of the season.
“It is important, but I always look at the things that might seem small and to me are important. He received a very early yellow card, so an emotional or unreliable Nico would get sent off. Instead, he kept his head, so I liked his attitude and emotional stability. even more than the goal.”
MOURINHO MASTERCLASS!!! Trust in Mr Mourinho always!! ❤️🇵🇹🇵🇹🇵🇹
This is the same guy that said his squad wasnt good enough and insults the players.
When they lose he shoots them, when they win then they are brilliant.
Hes always been 2 faced.
@ Gee – it’s called reverse psychology. Does not always work though.
Yeah…the man said squad, not the team. The comments came when he rested 10 payers and the substitutes messed all up. It’s unacceptable to lose 6:1 to an unknown team even without a coach!
Gasperini shut your big trap and be a sportsman and accept the result. And before you spit poison study a bit the football rules.
Wonder what Jose would say when Roma loses to a lower rank team in the next few games.. probably come out and thrash these same players.
Anti Jose or haters comments on the game. He the team or players play crop you must say just like if they brilliant. Why should one praise a team that played poorly? That’s hypocritical.
Mourinho’s comments are always ridiculous self-centered and often bizarre. He is not well-liked by the team because it’s all about him. Roma‘s win today was a fluke (28 percent possession). Atalanta is a much stronger team. Next week if Roma loses, all the players will become buns for not contributing to the greater glory of the bantam dictator who has a special talent at trying to destroy the careers of stars.
To say Roma’s win today was a fluke (28 percent possession) is being ignorant of JM’s tactics. He has won many games before at 28-30%
Hold the players accountable. It’s not the manager’s fault unless tactics are wrong. Roma players live La dolce vita and need to be knocked off their high horses every now and again. Truth is, Roma continuously finds ways to lose against top 5 teams. It’s not due to a lack of quality, it’s a lack of mentality and belief. Roma should be beating a team like Atalanta more often than not and that’s of no disrespect to Atalanta.
I like what one of you guys said about hypocrisy when you don’t say things the way they are. Mourinho always says what he feels. For me, there is nothing wrong in a coach saying his players didn’t play well. Conte said his Tottenham team didn’t have the right mentality. The new Man Utd coach said his players don’t play to instructions.
At Man Utd, Mourinho wanted to sell Martial but everyone condemned him. How has Martial fared? He wanted to buy Mahrez, Woodward said he was not a Man U kind of player. He went for Perisic, the said he was too old at 28 years. But Bayern took him and he scored vital goals that helped them win the Champions League. The same club accepted Cavani who was 34.
He needed Maguire but u guys said he should use what he had even when Baily, Phil Jones, and others were so injury prone. But he left and they went to buy the Maguire at a higher amount.
My take on this, you guys should let Mourinho be. I like someone like him who says what he feels, not people who practise hypocrisy and call it diplomacy.
Coaches like Guardiola enjoy success presently because they enjoy a free hand in their decisions. He came to Man City and sold Joe Hart who was England No. 1 goalie without anyone raising his eye lid. He demoted Yaya Toure to Team B and no one coughed. If it was Mourinho that did 1/50 of that, all the journalists in the world would have gathered in England with their pen to crucify Mourinho.
At Real Madrid, he was condemned just because he benched Iker Cassillas. They said he didn’t show respect to the captain of the national team. But Ancellotti came and sold him to Porto and everyone held their peace. Mourinho kept on demanding for a right full back but they expected him to use Arbeloa to win the Champions League for them. But he left and Ancellotti discarded the player without any qualms.
For three years, Ferguson didn’t win the league. People condemned him and said he should resign. But he enjoyed a free hand and spent stupendously on Ferdinand, Rooney, Tevez, Owen Hagreaves, Ronaldo etc before he brought Man Utd on track. But for Mourinho, you guys judge him because you enjoy attacking him so that you will say he has lost it. But I tell you this, Mourinho has nothing to prove to anyone.
People say he has problems with players but there is no coach that doesn’t have problems with players. The difference is that if it’s Mourinho, it’s always blown out of proportion. Sterling was sidelined by Guardiola for a long time but his decision was never questioned. Ferguson, at a time, played Welbe ck ahead of Rooney. Everyone respected his decision. But with Mourinho, it’s completely different. You guys haven’t been fair at all with him.
I’m not saying here that Mourinho is perfect but that is why he is human. You don’t expect him to be like Guardiola or Arteta. His nature is to express himself. Ferguson was known to be critical of referees too, the way Mourinho does when he thinks sensitive decisions were wrong. Even Guardiola a caused refs of helping Madrid win the league under Mourinho. His reason: they didn’t award Barca several penalties despite scoring close to 20 penalty goals that season.
If Mourinho wins big trophies, that is when people will know that he relies only on established players. The senior team is not an academy. Coaches promote youth team players who show exceptional qualities. Even Arsene Wenger who always got credit for ringing up young players only used them in the Carling Cup. Most of the young players hardly broke into the first team. They were always on loan until eventually sold off. Gnabry is a typical example. But Mourinho will be criticised that he does use young players. Guardiola has been in Man City for 7 years. How many youth team players have broken into their first team?
Let us try to be objective when we discuss issues.
Mourinho is usually criticised for speaking the truth. There is nothing wrong in a coach saying his players didn’t do well. The new coach of Man Utd critused his players that they were not playing to instructions.
At Roma, even Totti himself said that to win trophies, a coach needed players with the mentality of a champion but that he didn’t see that in the Roma players.
Young Boys of Switzerland beat Man Utd at Old Trafford. Sassuolo beat AC Milan 1-3 at Milan”‘s home. Bodo beating Roma’s Team B 6-1 is nothing compared to Bayern beating Barca 7-2. At least, it was Roma’s Team B. You guys should just let Mourinho be.
4 foals with only 29 % possession who else can do this? Only jose …he will bring victory to roma with his own style of play.
Forza Roma
Can any of their world class coaches accept to coach Tottenham or as Roma.special one as proven himself. Soon haters would begin to criticize his style of play because he’s winning. Sorry,mourinho is ahead. Kudos to Roma