Di Francesco: The team showed the right approach

Stephan El Shaarawy, Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov got the goals for the Giallorossi.

“We got off to a great start then dropped off a little when Chievo upped the pressure – they were going flat out midway through the first period," Di Francesco said.

"We came out strong again after the restart and that's what I asked the lads to do – to put the game to bed. We could have scored a few more but I hope we've kept a few back for Tuesday's game against Porto.”

Aleksandar Kolarov bowed to the crowd as a sign of peace. How can you fix this situation with the fans?

“I think it was a nice gesture – he wanted to say sorry. He's a consummate professional. As I've said before, he played for a month with injections when the team needed him. He always gives 100%. Sometimes you say a bit too much and you make a mistake, but he's responding on the pitch with performances like this one today. I hope he keeps it up. There's no question about his professionalism.”

There are still things to improve because you let Chievo have control of the match for part of the game, but do you think your counter-attacking play is better than last season?

“I've said this before but I'll say it again: it's ok to let the opponents have the ball in certain spells of the match. Sometimes you need to dig in but you must stick together and work together. That's where we've come up short at times this season. Look at what happened at Atalanta – we were excellent on the counter and we'd planned to play that way because with their aggressive approach they risked finding themselves is 1-v-1 situations. We've done a lot of work on these things lately. The lads know their first idea should be to play the ball up quickly. Clearly we could control the game better. Overall though I was happy with our approach today.”

The forwards made a big contribution defensively too...

“That's how we should play. There are times when you need to stay tight as a unit to stop the opposition picking the ball up between the lines. When you stay compact, you risk getting caught out by balls played in behind but we read the game really well tonight in almost every situation, especially defensively. The forwards' contribution is vital – we mustn't let ourselves get stretched at certain points of the game.”

Stephan El Shaarawy is your top scorer. Can he be an extra weapon for you at this stage of the season?

“He must be, because great teams have lots of forwards who get into double figures and I expect the same from my own. We've spread the goals around this season though and I like that. Strikers need goals more than others mentally speaking. The way Edin [Dzeko] played tonight I think he deserved another, but as I said earlier hopefully he's saved it for the Champions League.”

How is Patrik Schick?

“He had a minor muscle complaint but I don't think it's anything serious. He was able to deal with it and I preferred to bring him off. I'm not sure if [Kostas] Manolas will make it for Tuesday but he's more likely to than [Robin] Olsen. We have another four days to assess everything but I'll only pick players if they're at least 95%. I'm very happy with [Antonio] Mirante's performance today. He made some good saves and above all he kept his cool and made his presence felt. He's an experienced keeper and he knows how to manage situations. I have no worries when he's in goal but Olsen remains our first choice.”