Di Francesco: We lacked that killer instinct

Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco rued his side’s missed chances as the Giallorossi allowed a two-goal first-half lead to slip at Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

After early goals from Stephan El Shaarawy and Bryan Cristante appeared to put Roma in control of the game, the home side fell to an 83rd minute equaliser and were left to pay the price.

"I’m disappointed,” Di Francesco admitted after the final whistle. “The game seemed to be under control but you have to kill off these games. We had the chance to do so but we lacked that killer instinct. The thing that comes out of today is that we concede goals too easily, even when we don’t give away many chances.

“The team played much better with the two central midfielders in the second half and we were able to block their lines of passing. When a match looks like it’s under control, the biggest mistake you can make is to fail to put it to bed. We didn’t manage the game well and it was the same in Milan."

Could you see signs that your team’s concentration levels were dropping from the touchline?

"I’m there to try to get them to stay focused, but I do that even when we’re winning 3-0. I give instructions to improve the performance. We were too loose in the first half, though we improved after the break. Perhaps we lacked those attacking runs from the midfielders, but we did create chances. I think there was too much uncertainty – there was a bad ball in the build-up to the second equaliser too. In the first half [Valter] Birsa did well."

How are you going to make sure the team regroups for the Real Madrid match?

"We must hold onto our mentality. We need to improve when defending because the team is creating a lot and there’s quality to our build-up play. But if you play like that, you have to score four or five goals to ensure you don’t end up under pressure. We didn’t do that today and handed Chievo a lifeline. We can’t do any of that in Madrid. We need to defend well as a team first and foremost, then we can work on producing some excellent attacking play."