Spalletti disappointed at manner of side's late slip

The Giallorossi drew 3-3 at the Stadio Olimpico after leading 3-1 with 10 minutes remaining - and Spalletti was disappointed to see his side make sloppy mistakes to let the victory slip away.

The result was especially disappointing as it came on the back of two promising performances against Inter Milan and Napoli.

Once again you’ve failed to make the step up in quality…

“The issue is that when you’re one yard slower than your opponents, who themselves have nothing to lose and are playing for their lives, you pay the price for that one yard. We didn’t have a bad game this evening. We played well and could have made more of some opportunities. We did what we needed to do, but it’s when things settle down that players become more laid back, and perhaps don’t go that extra yard. We need to dust ourselves off and go again.”

Is the squad unable to stay focused?

“As I’ve said before, when we produce a good performance we then become too relaxed. There’s an idea that you can just follow on from the previous game, when you performed well, without putting in the same commitment as you did in that game, perhaps against a top quality side. That said, I don’t think we did badly up until leading 3-1. We created more opportunities, beyond those from which we scored. I think I made the right changes; bringing on [Edin] Dzeko and [Mohamed] Salah showed a desire to win. I’d have made the same decisions again, given the chance. Then we conceded two goals and made our lives difficult.”

Could you perhaps have pressed your opponents more?

“We pressed them. Not always, but we did press. We also have at least one player who is not fully fit, plus a number of injuries. However, it’s true that at home against a team like that, you can keep pressing their back-line throughout the match. I don’t think Austria imposed themselves on us, because they created very little. But they were accurate and clinical. There were errors from our side on the goals and they made the most of them.”

Do you think the team saw the changes as a signal that the game was over?

“It’s easy now to criticise – once the game is over. It wasn’t like that. [Stephan] El Shaarawy asked to be subbed and I’d have made another change. It was the same for [Alessandro] Florenzi, who asked to come off. I took [Juan] Iturbe off because they were pushing up on the right, so I put Radja [Nainggolan] on that side, bringing Dzeko on up front, with [Francesco] Totti dropping off. So, I’m sorry, but I don’t think it was a message saying ‘game over’, quite the opposite. Bringing Dzeko on was supposed to send the opposite message, that we could score again. Perhaps I could have brought on [Kevin] Strootman, but he’s still got a niggle so I didn’t think it was right to risk him.”

How do you think Gerson played?

“He finds it tough playing as a trequartista, so being played 10 metres further back tonight helped him. He was a bit slow however in some of the choices he made, and struggled a bit. He’s young but has good feet. He needs to grow.”