Roma coach José Mourinho says the Giallorossi must turn sadness into motivation: ‘The season is not a highway, it’s full of curves. Perhaps it’s a highway only for PSG and Bayern Munich.’
The Giallorossi host Udinese at the Stadio Olimpico tomorrow after suffering a 3-2 defeat against Verona on Sunday.
It kicks off at 19.45 UK time.
The Zebrette were trashed 4-0 by Napoli on Monday.
“Udinese lost badly in the result but not in the performance against an excellent team. Some goals came from set pieces, but Udinese are solid, know how to play. It’s a difficult team to face,” Mourinho said in his pre-match press conference
The Special One revealed Matias Vina won’t be available while Bryan Cristante and Jordan Veretout will start.
“Viña is not available. Calafiori is valid, but he is 19 years old and with little experience in Serie A. He is valid for us. If you ask the same question to other top teams in the league, maybe their coach would say otherwise,” the former Inter coach said.
“Against Verona, he played a shy but balanced game. He has quality, it takes time to become a player with more maturity”.
Mourinho continued his press conference by analyzing the game against Verona,
“We lost a game, we didn’t play well. We analyzed the game in detail with the players, looking to the future and not the match, which we can no longer win. We lost three points,” he said.
“We have lost, we are sad, but we must remain balanced. It is not a result that pushes me one way or the other. We still have a lot of work to do, but we must remain calm on the positive and the negative.
“We are not candidates for anything, just to win the next game. We need to turn sadness into motivation, not sorrow into depression. And we lost only one, what should those who lost two or three do? We make our way quiet but with ambition.
“We have to work more, otherwise they would give me three months instead of three years of contract. In three months, it is complicated to develop a team, you can do it if that is already a consolidated team,” Mourinho continued.
“It’s not a problem to lose a game because of too much ambition or desire. With the changes I made, I knew we could win or lose.
“The problem is the three goals. Those are too many. And from a defensive point of view, we had some issues with Verona.
“I can’t control the players, I can’t control anyone, nor the fans. I can only try to influence those who are close to me, namely the players. I liked the locker room after the wins. I saw a balanced locker room and, after the defeat with Verona, I saw them sad, but always with balance.
“I repeat: it is necessary to transform sadness into motivation, but always with this level of stability.
“The season is not a highway, it is full of curves. Maybe it’s a highway for teams like PSG and Bayern that win every game. Don’t worry, let’s go slowly.”
Roma have nine points in four games after three wins and one defeat.
They’ve won three games from three in the Conference League.
The game against Udinese could see Mourinho level Massimiliano Allegri’s record of 40 Serie A games unbeaten at home.
The Portuguese tactician has never lost one home game in Italy’s top-flight during his career.
I wish he would just cut the BS sometimes. Why do PSG and Bayern need to be involved? Why is he over-embellishing very basic, widespread, uncommon footballing sentiments? Get on with it man. If he wasn’t a football coach he would be writing Twilight novels
Unfortunately this is the standard that teams need to follow. The Man Cities and PSGs of the world have ruined football (in my opinion) by setting unrealistic expectations. The expectation is that teams as good as them should be thrashing every single opponent they face. If Roma is to be this world class club, then this unfortunately is who they have to compare themselves to. Roma fans as you know are notorious for celebrating their team yet on the other hand are quick to trash Roma players after a loss. To be honest, I like Mourinho’s approach because he’s eloquently telling not only his players but the fans especially just to stay grounded and take every match one at a time. It’s easy to think Roma is a good team when they’ve won 3 of 4 matches to start the season but keep in mind they barely beat Sassuolo and lost to Hellas Verona, both of which play sound defensive and structured football. If we abided by the standard I referred to earlier then it’s easy to say that Roma should have beaten both Sassuolo and Verona soundly but as we know, this wasn’t the case and Roma isn’t PSG or Bayern. Nobody seems to consider that the international break was not an international break for most of Roma’s players. Roma also doesn’t have a lot of depth of the bench yet (fingers crossed in the winter we’ll get some reinforcements). If Roma beat Juventus, Milan and Napoli to start the season, then I’d be more convinced, right now, I’m not so sure they are as good as their record says they are. An exciting team for sure but let’s stay grounded here and take it one at a time. Forza Roma as always.
@Chris what’s wrong with what he said? It’s going to be an easy ride for the two teams he mentioned and he just said Serie A isn’t the same. What’s wrong with that? If you are so easily get offended by something insignificant like this, then I feel sorry for people around you.
thanks Gus. you told Chris just the way i thought it.