Luciano Spalletti feels Roma have finally found their winning mentality after coming back to beat Juventus 3-1. “It’s proving the kind of people we are.”
Mario Lemina had opened the scoring, but Daniele De Rossi, Stephan El Shaarawy and Radja Nainggolan turned it all around to postpone the Scudetto party, closing the gap to four points.
Luciano Spalletti feels Roma have finally found their winning mentality after coming back to beat Juventus 3-1. “It’s proving the kind of people we are.”
Mario Lemina had opened the scoring, but Daniele De Rossi, Stephan El Shaarawy and Radja Nainggolan turned it all around to postpone the Scudetto party, closing the gap to four points.
“We had a good game and were missing several players, but we worked as a gritty side, who at times had to make changes and were able to suffer under pressure, keeping a clear head on the objective,” he told Mediaset Premium.
“As I said before the match, what interested us was winning this particular game. The rest is irrelevant. If you want to pay us a compliment, it’s that Roma were always capable of this, but it’s more than the victory, it’s proving the kind of people we are.
“It’s fighting back from a goal down, overcoming obstacles and showing how much we want the result. It’s that little animal that winning teams like Juventus have within them and we want that too.
“I think (referee Luca) Banti had an excellent game tonight, as he let it flow and was very even-handed, immediately showing he wasn’t going to blow the whistle for 50-50 situations. He was consistent and sent an early signal of how he was going to approach it.”
With Edin Dzeko injured and Kevin Strootman suspended, Spalletti used Diego Perotti as a False 9, switching with Mohamed Salah later.
“Perotti is a player who needs lines, to have the ball at his feet and take men on. If he doesn’t have those elements, he’ll struggle.
“You could see from his face when he went off that he wasn’t happy, but those are his qualities and playing in a gap between midfield and their defence is not his wheelhouse. He needs space to run into and work up a head of steam.
“Salah, on the other hand, can turn on a sixpence and cause problems. He seems to prefer playing on the wing, so he can cut in and shoot with his left foot, as he’s seen that he scores a lot of goals that way. But you try putting Salah there when you’ve got Dzeko!
“Now we’ve got some big games coming up and we want to be absolutely focused. To talk about contracts, the future, transfers or anything else just raises up the dust that clouds our vision. It’s better to keep our eyes on the prize.”
Spalletti was asked about his comment in yesterday’s Press conference hinting he’d like to reunite with new Inter director Walter Sabatini.
“The question was, would you like to work with Sabatini again? I can’t insult the man and say no!”