Spalletti: Character the key to victory

The Giallorossi boss saw his side emerge victorious thanks to Armando Izzo's own goal - but walked away pleased with what he had seen.

Spalletti called on his players to reproduce that sort of performance over the coming weeks.

“We need to maintain the level we’re playing at," Spalletti said. "It’s important that we keep the same mental strength we showed today.

“The team produced a fantastic performance today, especially in terms of their character, personality and physical presence. We took all of the little shortcomings we’d identified and turned them into strengths to win the match today. You have to hand it to the lads.”

Federico Fazio was key in the heart of defence once again today. Does he embody the collective development of the team?

“Everyone did well today. It’s not the first game he’s hit such high standards – he consolidated his recent form today. The most important thing was seeing the team fight, so it was a pleasure to be there on the sidelines. We showed all the characteristics you need to win this type of game.”

Is this the spirit Roma need to keep moving forward?

“Given how many chances we created, we should have put the game to bed earlier or struck a better balance to give our opponents fewer opportunities. We had lots of players on the edge so I waited before making the changes – [Radja] Nainggolan, [Bruno] Peres and Emerson [Palmieri weren’t at 100% and we had three guys on bookings. I hesitated for a bit and perhaps the lads should have pushed up further, but they did well to hang in there.”

Did you ask the team to compete on a level with Genoa in terms of physicality?

“At the start, our physical presence was fantastic. We were so up for it and did what we had to do against a side like Genoa. When they’ve played the big teams in the past, they’ve focused on winning the second balls and aerial duals. We did very well up front, even if we didn’t make the most of our chances.

"I asked Nainggolan to play in the hole and stay on the right too. Emerson and Peres had good games. [Kevin] Strootman is back to the levels that only a great player can reach – he held everything together and kept our play nice and short. We struggled without him, but everything worked well today and I’m delighted.”