Pellegrini: The confidence is returning

Pellegrini added another assist to his recent run of form, with Edin Dzeko (three), Cengiz Under and Justin Kluivert scoring the goals at the Olimpico.

You’ve made progress...

“We’re very happy. It was important to win today, just like on Saturday and Wednesday. Three wins on the bounce: it seems that everything is going well on the pitch and now we just need to continue working like this.”

Is there still something missing from this Roma team?

“I don’t feel I can say that something is missing at the moment. We clearly had some difficulties at the beginning of the season, but we’re back in form now so we just need to continue in this way.”

The crowd enjoyed your performance in attacking midfield…

“Yes, I’m very happy in attacking midfield as I’ve already played there at Sassuolo. I really like playing my team-mates in because it’s as if I’ve scored myself when they hit the back of the net and even more so because we’re all delighted when we win.”

What’s this change been down to, the formation or your attitude?

“I think it could be both. We’ve gained a bit of confidence in our ability and maybe we were missing that at the beginning of the season, but we have it now. Maybe the training camp did us good too, spending a few days together. We’ve come out of that poor start to the season and I’m truly delighted for everyone in the team because we’re playing well, having fun and winning games.”

Were there discussions in the changing room about how to get over this mental hurdle?

“It’s always been positive among ourselves and we all have positive things to say about each other. I really feel that this is a united squad, I can see that also from how the players who don’t score celebrate. There’s never been a problem with the squad; in fact, I think it’s one of our strengths.”

The team has improved physically too…

"Yes, absolutely. From a personal point of view, I felt great too, but this is also thanks to the minutes I’ve played. This victory makes us really happy, but now we need to think about our next game on Saturday against Empoli in the league.”