Di Francesco: We paid the price for our mistakes

The Giallorossi suffered their first defeat of the new season after a last-gasp goal from Milan forward Patrik Cutrone, a strike that meant the visitors' impressive second half performance went unrewarded.

Speaking after the game, the coach acknowledged that the side had not performed to their best.

"We failed to test Milan in the first half, when they were clearly the better side," Di Francesco said.

"After the restart we changed things around and grew into the game. It's a shame we conceded that late goal as it came about because of poor decision-making. Mistakes are part and parcel of the game but it's a pity it happened right at the end.

"Daniele [De Rossi] should have stepped up as it would have left two of their players offside. We're weren't on the ball mentally and we paid for it dearly.”

Does this mean the three-man defence is back on the shelf?

“Sometimes you decide to do things a certain way to boost confidence but it didn't pay off today. We were slow in closing down. We seem to be starting games with the handbrake on before finding our way later in the game. I hope that was the last time. We made mistakes in the first half with three at the back and the choices I made didn't produce the results I was hoping for on this occasion. You have to accept criticism because it's based on the result.”

What do you want to see the team doing differently?

“Clearly we're not as tight at the back as we used to be and the result is we're conceding more goals that usual. Our decision-making is not good enough. We pay attention to lots of small details in training but then we're not able to keep our heads during matches. That's one of the reasons why I opted to bolster the backline but we weren't aggressive enough in the first half. Part of it was down to Milan but part was us closing down at the wrong times.”

Your build-up play looked laboured at times today. Is it the passing or a lack of movement that's the problem?

“It's a number of things. Often you just have to keep a calm head. We look sluggish at times but sometimes it comes down to not having the clearness of thought to make the right decisions. In the first half we didn't stay tight enough as a unit and we weren't making runs in behind or running the channels. We did after the break when our movement was much better.”

Your wingers didn't seem particularly inspired today. How come?

“I wanted to beef up our attack. [Patrik] Schick is good at running into spaces and other players weren't at their best. Cengiz [Under] ended the last match with cramp and I wanted to bring him on during the game. The system we chose to prevent Milan moving the ball around didn't work out as we'd hoped. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get it wrong. I got it wrong today.”

How did Edin Dzeko and Schick fare together up front?

“They did better when we had three up top because they opened up more. It's not all down to them, though: the other lads need to show movement too. If I start with Schick and Dzeko up front and we only manage to get two crosses in, something's not right. We needed to use the width more to give the strikers better service but we didn't do that.”