Di Francesco frustrated by pivotal decisions

The Giallorossi boss felt the hosts were awarded a penalty in dubious circumstances - despite the assistance of VAR - to take the lead early on.

Edin Dzeko equalised at the start of injury time to rescue a share of the points.

“It would have been harsh on us if we'd lost," Di Francesco said. "We fell behind in the first half following a situation that I don't think was right, You have to assess everything in these cases. We're lucky to have VAR now but there are certain things I disagree with.

“Roma may have come up short again in the scoring department, as we often have, but I think our build-up play and movement were excellent. We're doing certain things right again - things we'd been doing a bit less well lately.”

Does your decision to start Dzeko prove that he and the club are on the same page?

“The lad's worked very hard despite all the talk that's been going on the last few days. He's the sort of player you might not see for long spells but he's always there.

“[Mirko] Antonucci deserves credit too because he came on at a difficult time and showed the ability he has.

“I'm mainly pleased with the team today, though. I told them that if we maintain this approach and keep playing like this then we'll make up the points we've dropped along the way.

“We're playing our football again now. As for our scoring problem, it's something that's been dragging on for a while now and we know all about it.”

You just seem to be missing that final touch to finish off moves...

“That's exactly what we're missing because we're creating chances, playing attacking football and closing down the opposition high up the pitch. We want to be successful and play entertaining football but if we don't score then we just look silly. We were up against a side that try to play football today but we didn't deserve to go behind because that situation should have been looked at very differently.”

Why do you think we're seeing these contrasting decisions being taken by the assistants, the referee and VAR?

“In football that’s called obstruction. If you show no interest to get the ball, it’s a foul. The worst thing is that the linesman raised his flag and he was ignored. I don’t want to stir up trouble, though. If VAR is an advantage and it's there to protect teams and the quality of the football, then we need to look at it the right way. But if that wasn't obstruction, I don’t know what is. “

Your players seemed to have a bit more swagger about them today and played more of the forward balls you want. How important is that for the rest of the season?

“I must give my players credit where it’s due tonight, but in football you have to be good enough to take your chances too. We prepared for the match to deal with their packed midfield and we put into practice the things we'd rehearsed in training in the few days we had.”

You have another game against Samp on Sunday, at home this time. Will Roma be with or without Dzeko?

“That's a decision for the club to make based on other factors. As long as I have the player, I'll play him because he's always been professional and committed to the cause. Dzeko is a match-winner and he's scored more goals than anyone else for me. The sooner the transfer window shuts, the sooner we'll see Dzeko more relaxed again. It hasn't affected his commitment at all, though.”