Serie A, Thursday, APR 25, 20:00 CEST
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    Fonseca: You could see the players were tired


    Read everything the Roma boss had to say in the wake of Sunday's 2-0 defeat away to Parma.

    Second half goals from Mattia Sprocati and Andreas Cornelius condemned the Giallorossi to defeat in their seventh and final game in a 22-day span.

    Were Roma suffering from tiredness heading into the game?

    "That's a very important factor. I think the team was certainly tired out there today. These players had played in all of our recent games and it's nothing to do with their attitude. They've covered so much ground and were tired, slower and not as quick to react as they usually area. I think what happened out there today is clear to see."

    There was a period in the second half when Roma could've taken the lead. Were you not ruthless enough or was that also down to tiredness?

    "We had some chances, but Parma were very dangerous on the break. If you don't score first, it's very difficult to get back into it. They dropped deeper after scoring and it made it more difficult for us."

    Throughout the course of the season, a similar situation could happen again. How should you have managed the game to do better? You conceded when the team was in position, rather than on the counter.

    "We also found it tough in the first half when they counter-attacked. Our marking wasn't good when we were on the ball and we found it very tough going forward because there wasn't much space to play in and we didn't manage to outnumber them out wide. Javier Pastore was too tired and didn't manage to have much of an influence on the game, which was telling in our attacking third."

    Did you possibly rush things going forward? Did you need to be more patient?

    "We wanted to win out there today. We could've managed the game differently, but it comes down to ambition. As a team, we knew it was important to try to get the three points. After the game, we can think about how we could've controlled the game differently, but we did have some chances going forward. When we lost the ball, however, we didn't react fast enough and Parma found it easy to hit us on the break."

    In tactical terms, was Edin Dzeko possibly too isolated?

    "Yes, that's true. He was isolated in attack. Given the lack of space, Nicolo Zaniolo and Justin Kluivert drifted into other areas of the pitch to be able to use their pace. Justin had a good game, but with Pastore in a deeper position, Edin was on his own."