Di Francesco: Once again, we made things interesting

The Giallorossi conspired to see an early 2-0 advantage washed away midway through the second half – but recovered in time for Stephan El Shaarawy to score the fifth and deciding goal at the Stadio Olimpico.

And, while the coach acknowledged that his charges could have managed the game better at times, he was pleased with the overall performance from the group.

“Once again we made life difficult for ourselves," Di Francesco said.

"We deserved to go in at the break with a bigger lead given the way we played. We set out to get at them high up the pitch and perhaps we'd have done better to keep the ball more sometimes – you can't play the whole game at 300 miles an hour.

"A few of the lads had cramps at the end of the match and that shows how much desire they have. These youngsters are keen to push forward and attack. Sometimes we aren't savvy enough to slow games down but until they made it 2-1 I thought we played really well.

"We had the chances to kill the game off but couldn't take them. Today's win shows our mental strength because we responded to finding ourselves back on level terms at 2-2 and showed the right ideas.”

Should Edin Dzeko have done a bit better with those chances he had to put the game to bed?

“He's a hugely important player for us and he did a great job for the team today; his finishing was just a bit off. We know he likes to score difficult goals and I hope he'll get back to scoring soon. A player of his ability can't be stuck on two in the league. We need his goals.”

Roma's ball circulation was excellent in the first half but do you perhaps need to improve when you drop back and defend in front of your goal?

“I agree with that entirely and it's something we're working on. We're improving defensively. Often the chances we conceded were a result of loose balls, but apart from Iago Falque hitting the post in the first half they didn't have that many chances. There are some situations where we need to do better, especially as we end up paying a dear price for our mistakes. Having said that, if we score three goals, and our strikers haven't got that many, it means we're doing really well as a team.”

If the goals are coming from team moves, do you have more belief in what you're doing now?

“I'm happy because the lads are working really well and we're improving a lot as a team. We definitely need to do better defensively, though. Sometimes you actually need to be a bit less aggressive and read situations better. If you're winning 2-0, you get caught on the counter, as we did several times today.”

What did you think of Nicolo Zaniolo's goal?

“He shows his determination and strength. He really believes and never stops chasing. He does a lot of defensive work and that's where the attacking side of his game starts. He wins lots of balls back and breaks up opposition moves. He's exactly the same in training and that's important for a youngster.”

You went with a different midfield today, with three attack-minded players. Does that reflect a change in playing philosophy, to a more offensive approach?

“[Bryan] Cristante played in the hole for Atalanta last season and [Lorenzo] Pellegrini is an attacking midfielder but both are capable of switching positions. They're constantly on the move and help each other out. We're not always impeccable tactically but we make up for it with our hard work and desire to put in the running. [Steven] Nzonzi is an important player, and so are the others who are out injured, especially with all the games we have to play.

"[Diego] Perotti is out and so is Cengiz [Under] now. Zaniolo could come in handy out wide. He's capable of playing there and he'd be good for our balance too, as it would allow us to play with an extra forward.”