Roma boss Claudio Ranieri insists Francesco Totti is easy to manage even though he sometimes appears frustrated at being benched.
The club's talismanic captain didn't get off the bench against Milan on Saturday night and revealed he didn't know that he wouldn't start until the last minute.
"It's not difficult to manage the captain," Ranieri said. "Francesco is an intelligent lad. Then again we certainly can't pretend that he is happy when he doesn't play, actually the opposite would be strange.
Roma boss Claudio Ranieri insists Francesco Totti is easy to manage even though he sometimes appears frustrated at being benched.
The club's talismanic captain didn't get off the bench against Milan on Saturday night and revealed he didn't know that he wouldn't start until the last minute.
"It's not difficult to manage the captain," Ranieri said. "Francesco is an intelligent lad. Then again we certainly can't pretend that he is happy when he doesn't play, actually the opposite would be strange.
"He wants to play, but this is normal. But our project is ambitious and I hope to carry it even further forward.
"We have always said that our objective is the Scudetto. But we need an in-depth squad to compete on three fronts.
"It's the first time that there is a project of this nature [at the club] and it's clear that it's not easy, but all the players must live with this situation together. Rotation must be an extra weapon rather than a hindrance," he added.
Finally, Ranieri gave an insight into Roma's transfer strategy ahead of the window reopening in January.
"Adriano isn't moving from here," he said. "As for the others [Cicinho, Baptista and Doni], we await developments.
"We'll try to do what we didn't manage in June also because we have champions in this squad who deserve to play," he concluded.