Di Francesco concerned by Celta display

The Giallorossi lost 4-1 at Balaidos, with substitute Kevin Strootman scoring his side's only goal midway through the second half.

Speaking afterwards, Di Francesco admitted the performance from his side had not been good enough.

"It was a disaster in every sense: technical, tactical and physical," Di Francesco said. "Generally speaking, the team was second best at all times.

"It would have taken a time-out to sort it all out. I didn’t like the way the team approached or prepared for the game.

"The attitude was different in the second half, though at 4-0 it was always going to be easier for Celta Vigo to pass the ball around and so it proved. Having said that, we showed good determination and tactical intelligence in the second half, things that were lacking before the break."

You’ve conceded a lot of goals in Spain with many reserve players on the pitch. What do you make of that?

"I’ll weigh things up when the time is right. When the players are picked it is to show what they can do. Obviously the responsibility always lies with the coach, but I hope that this match serves as a lesson in terms of the approach we need when we prepare for games. I always say that you play the way you train, so therefore we need to raise the bar in training."

Do you think it’s taking too long for the team to get to grips with your playing philosophy?

"We definitely have a lot to work on still, but I wouldn’t focus on philosophy too much – it’s more about attitude. Every game needs to be prepared for in a different way. That’s what I need to concentrate on: matches need to be prepared for properly.

"I need to strike out this first half – apart from that, I’ve always seen a team that’s been improving. The team looked to be developing in the game against Sevilla, in terms of fitness and tactics. We were up against a physical side with players who pass the ball very well today and we lost the plot tactically, which hasn’t happened before."

You’re labouring the point about preparing for matches well, but can you really teach that to certain players?

"I have to work on that. I think it was the approach to the game and the errors that determined the game today. The foul for the first goal might have been outside the area, but I don’t even want to dwell on that stuff. It needs to make me and my players reflect on preparing for games differently. I wasn’t expecting that kind of first-half showing, despite the personnel changes.

"I made lots of changes for this friendly, with the start of the league season in mind, but they killed us in attack in the first half. We were all running in the same direction and we were second to the ball every time. You don’t prepare for a match a few hours beforehand – you do so days in advance. I have to make the team understand that before Atalanta. Perhaps they’ve been used to different ways of doing things, but today we did the complete opposite of what we’d prepared."

Was it more a case of specific sections of the team finding it tough today, or were there individual players who had bad games?

"The idea of there being three lines of players in a team is wrong. When you press, you have to do so as a team. At the same time, it’s up to each individual player to keep the pressure up. Our defensive line kept having to sprint back, our level of aggression at the start was wrong and we didn’t have the kind of directness I like to see. Thankfully it was only a friendly. There will be heavy criticism now, but personally I’m sure that we will produce a top performance in Bergamo. We need to learn from this – it’s better to take these knocks now, me included. We all need to learn from this."

Will you and Monchi have a conversation about the squad following today’s result?

"I think this match was important in order to be able to draw conclusions on where we are right now. I don’t like making definitive judgements. Right now we have some weaknesses and things to improve on and we’ll look at those with the sporting director. We have to think about the process now.

My main objective is to prepare for the game against Atalanta. You can’t take any match for granted when you play for Roma – I do not accept that. I’m the first person to front up. Preparation starts in the mind and we failed to do that."