Di Francesco seeks defensive improvement after defeat

The Giallorossi fell to a painful defeat in their International Champions Cup opener in San Diego, despite Patrik Schick opening the scoring at SDCCU Stadium.

Two goals for Fernando Llorente, followed up by another two for Lucas Moura, saw Spurs turn the game around before half-time.

Roma improved in the second half, but a comeback would not be forthcoming.

“Well we had a good start, although I did not like how we defended in the second part of the first half,” Di Francesco said.

“We were not compact enough, not organized enough. In the second half we changed a lot of players, as we knew we were going to, and we created a lot of chances and could have scored a few more goals. But we did not play as we wanted and conceded too much.”

Di Francesco insisted that the squad have been working well in training, and cautioned against making any sweeping judgements based on one game.

“We need to defend with 11, it has to be a collective effort,” he added. “We were not good enough at defending.

“From a physical standpoint, we have been working very hard over the last few weeks in training and perhaps that had an impact. It’s certainly better to concede goals now, rather than during the season. But this will be a valuable lesson for us.”

He added: “It takes some time for the new players to adapt to what we want on the pitch. We have to stay calm, not jump to any conclusions.”