Kevin Strootman doesn’t understand what went wrong when Roma crashed out of the Champions League to Porto. “It’s psychological.”
The Giallorossi had a good chance after the 1-1 draw in Portugal, but saw Daniele De Rossi and Emerson Palmieri sent off tonight in a 3-0 home defeat.
“We didn’t start the game well. I don’t know why, as we had prepared well and knew what we were supposed to do,” Strootman told Mediaset Premium.
Kevin Strootman doesn’t understand what went wrong when Roma crashed out of the Champions League to Porto. “It’s psychological.”
The Giallorossi had a good chance after the 1-1 draw in Portugal, but saw Daniele De Rossi and Emerson Palmieri sent off tonight in a 3-0 home defeat.
“We didn’t start the game well. I don’t know why, as we had prepared well and knew what we were supposed to do,” Strootman told Mediaset Premium.
“We didn’t do the right things. Porto didn’t create many chances either early on, but they scored a goal from a set play.
“We did not play well and had two red cards. We tried everything, but then on 2-0 it was all over.”
Roma seemed to play better when down to 10 and nine men than at the start, so is this a psychological problem?
“Perhaps it is a psychological issue, but it was for them too, as Porto didn’t run as much and we tried pressing them all over.”
They are out of the Champions League and enter the Europa League group phase.
“It is difficult, we are all angry and disappointed, but we have to think about Serie A. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow will be bad, but we’ve got to work together and can’t go around blaming people, because we all made mistakes.
“Now we must all work to get better as a team. I just don’t know what happened, because we trained well and are physically ready, but on the field if you get the easy passes wrong then you have to keep tracking back and it all becomes more difficult.
“It might well be mental, because physically we had so many tests and seem fine. I think it’s more psychological than physical.”
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