Spalletti's pre-Torino press conference in full

Luciano Spalletti spoke to the press on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Torino. Check out our full transcript of the Giallorossi boss’ news conference.

“Let me give you an update on the injury situation. [Bogdan] Lobont is out after picking up a knock on his right elbow. [Norbert] Gyomber is back with the group, as is [Lucas] Digne. [Miralem] Pjanic will need to be looked at today after he’s trained with the squad. He has some soreness around his pelvis and adductors but it’s looking good.”

How do you explain the two consecutive draws against Bologna and Atalanta?

“There are times when things don’t go your way, the side needs to work constantly to try to manage matches and play football. In terms of the Bologna game, we didn’t show our usual characteristics in the duels. When you move the ball around well and don’t get the reward of a goal, the opposition closes the space down and it because a more physical match – that’s when we lose something.

“Against Atalanta I’d decided to put out a physical team, partly because they’re very good at winning the ball back in those uncertain situations when neither team really has it. We needed to be more alert to the counter and we didn’t do enough to implement the decisions we’d made.

“The team did some good things against both Bologna and Atalanta. I expected them to show more experience at 2-0 up in Bergamo, but that wasn’t the case. That said, I don’t think we’re going to take any ill effects from that into our next game. We performed well in both matches – there were some moments worthy of criticism and others worthy of praise, such as levelling the scores at 3-3 and creating a chance to make it 4-3. It was a good reaction.”

Do you think the team struggled physically? What are you expecting against Torino?

“No, I think it was more a question of balance. If we don’t improve against Torino we’ll run the same risks. The Granata are really compact when defending and they can break well. They use direct balls up to their strikers and move like clockwork. I know [Giampiero] Ventura well and he’s a football maestro as well as an exceptional person. He’s always put his own spin on the teams he’s coached. The fact that he’s at a big club like Torino shows he knows what he’s doing and can win everyone over with what he produces on the pitch. We’ll need to be alert to all these aspects. If we can do that then we’ll be able to get the win, but we’ll have to perform well.”

Is the [Francesco] Totti story that came out after the match in Bergamo a distraction or can it bring out his best?

“What causes distractions are things that remain in the dressing room and have such a big impact they can’t be forgotten. From our point of view everything is fine, we’re working towards Torino and we’re not speaking about what’s happened over the last few days anymore. We cleared things up yesterday. I have to intervene when it comes to rules and moderating the messages to be sent to the team – but everything’s fine.

[Seydou] Keita has been decisive on many occasions – why was he left of the bench for the Bologna and Atalanta matches?

“As I said before, I have to moderate the messages sent to the team. Can we say that when Keita plays the others improve? No, the results of the team don’t depend on one player. Even with Totti, when I’m asked if Totti got the draw or if Roma are a different team with or without Keita – these messages need to be moderated because they’re incorrect and unfair. We have players who are just as good in the tackle as Seydou is. When Francesco scored, there was a pass from [Edin] Dzeko, some amazing play from [Diego] Perotti, [Stephan] El Shaarawy goes in for two tackles, [Alessandro] Florenzi slides in and then there’s the great goal from Totti. So why should we take credit away from Perotti? It’s not right – it’s distorting what happened, it’s wanting to take credit away from one person and give it to another. I don’t accept that and I pay attention to the details.”

Are Roma their own worst enemies? Often things are said just before big matches.

“These things happen. At times important people feel the need to say things and that’s OK. Perhaps in doing that you make mistakes, wrong choices. But the intention is always to do good, from people wanting to help Roma be successful – that’s the objective we all need to have.”

At the moment all that’s being spoken about is Totti. You’ve said there’s not enough talk about the team and the family. What were you referring to?

“People are speaking about Totti because he’s made history with Roma. I’d like to find another four of five Tottis, because I need them to make the team better. We need to develop players of that level. If you’re asking me what I was referring to I’ll reply that it’s something that stays in the dressing room. We shouldn’t have too many things in our heads – training, rest, we need to be alert. When you look back at the first goal we conceded against Atalanta you can see we had switched off and so I pull the team up on that – that’s my job. I was brought in to see that our rules and principles are respected and to try and win football matches. We’ve not won all of them but we have won some and we’re trying to continue moving in that direction. From what I read it seems like we’ve completed lost our way, yet our hands are firmly planted on the steering wheel.”

You’ve said that Roma is a wonderful place to work. Given the comparison you’ve spoken about between Dzeko and Totti, do you still believe that or have you changed your mind?

“I said that there are some people comparing Dzeko and Totti, but this place hasn’t changed. It’s a wonderful place to work. Everything was up in the air on Sunday night, but the next day I got up an hour earlier than usual and came to work. I’ve tried to do things differently – if that’s come out then it means I need to make better use of what this wonderful place offers me.”

In your previous, extraordinary spell between 2005 and 2009, there were many things written in the press saying that Totti had saved Roma, but we can’t remember you correcting us so much back then. Have you changed or have we changed?

“I agree that Totti saved Roma, but if you include the three full-on challenges the other players made in the rescue operation then that’s perfect. As I said, I need to find other players as good as he is and I also need to moderate the messages sent to the team. Because that’s the right thing to do. Even when he hasn’t played, people have still written about him. When people talk about how good he is and compare that with the spell Dzeko’s going through, I don’t like that and I have to intervene. Totti is a great player, but I’m the coach and I have to ensure that rules are respected and look at what I have in the dressing room in terms of our objectives. At times I have to intervene on these objectives and do the right thing.

“The pass Francesco made after scoring was even better than the goal. Why can’t we give credit to Perotti’s work in Francesco’s goal? We need Perotti because he’s a great player. I haven’t played Francesco much, but he’s in my plans. The team enabled him to show his quality, his class. I use him when I need to turn a match around and he very nearly managed it. I would have praised him to the rafters had we won. I think some people have vested interests in speaking about this stuff. When I pick my team I have no father, no mother, no kids, no relatives. I’m only thinking about Roma winning. The other players have their quality too and I need to keep that in mind. I’m sorry if Francesco sees it differently, but I’m saying things that are correct and that any other coach would think too. Totti is training well – you can see he wants to play. As long as I’m here, this is how it’s going to be – decisions will be taken with the objective of Roma winning. And when I need him, I will play Francesco, and I’m very happy when he turns a result around together with the rest of the team.

“Do I fear whistles from the stadium when the line-up is read out? I can’t be intimidated by such things. It came out that I had a scuffle with Francesco in the corridor. I didn’t meet any players in the dressing room. Why do people write this stuff? Why? I could say the same things about journalists, I could invent stuff myself. Physical contact was mentioned. And I was forced to defend myself with a statement.”

Was there a lack of concentration for the first goal?

“[Daniele] De Rossi was in position and [Kostas] Manolas had gone out to force the play down the right flank. [Antonio] Rudiger was three metres ahead of his opponent, as was Digne. At that point Manolas made the pass and lost the ball, with both Digne and Rudiger out of position. When Manolas came back in, [Ervin] Zukanovic stretched to get the ball and [Marco] Boriello was left unmarked in behind Manolas, De Rossi, Zukanovic and the two full-backs. That’s something the team shouldn’t be doing. We were 2-0 up and top players should be able to read the situation – we shouldn’t have conceded that goal. I’m not blaming Digne because the whole defensive line switched off when Manolas was carrying the ball. Changes of possession are the worst tactical moment of any match because the whole team needs to reorganise and they’re not ready because they’re thinking about getting forward to score a goal. I’ll try to explain it better to my players.”

Will you be here next season, no matter where you finish?

“I have a contract so I will be here unless other things happen that depend on the owners.”

How do you tackle Dzeko’s current spell?

“Dzeko is Dzeko – from now on it’s down to him. If he shows me he’s that centre-forward, that striker that attracted the attention of the footballing world in the past, great. He’s the one who needs to show us what kind of player he is, how good he is. If he shows his quality I’ll use him, if he doesn’t I won’t. We need someone with his characteristics and his physical presence. I’ll be watching and I’ll act without sentimentality here too.”

Looking back at his time at Manchester City, it seems the Dzeko plays to his full potential only when he has a strike partner alongside him.

“That’s a correct observation from a technical and tactical perspective. It’s important to look at the little details and that might come into it, but I can’t accept that such a good player needs someone beside him to show his quality. If you analyse Sunday’s match closely, you’ll see part of your question in our tactical approach. [Mohamed] Salah was playing more as a striker, targeting the centre-back and not the full-back, [Boukary] Dramè, who is quicker but played more centrally to try and block Salah, especially in the first half an hour. As I’ve said to him, I think Dzeko has fallen into the same trap we all have – instead of playing good, physical football based on challenging for the ball, he’s done something different and got the wrong idea about Italian football. From now on, Dzeko needs to show us that he really is Dzeko because there’s no more time left.”