Di Francesco: A battling performance, another important win

The Giallorossi made it four wins from their last four games thanks to goals from Steven Nzonzi and Edin Dzeko - but were made to work for the three points by a dogged and determined home side.

That was a hard-fought win…

“We must give credit where it's due because Empoli were excellent. We played very well in the first half: we kept hold of the ball well and were in control of the game. We lacked a bit of quality sometimes in the second half and we allowed Empoli too many opportunities to hit us on the break. [Francesco] Caputo caused problems for us until we tweaked our tactical set-up.”

They say it's the scrappy wins like this which are the most important...

“Winning games like this is crucial. We've picked up three very good points today given the way we played. It's good for confidence and we needed this to keep up the run we've been on in the last four games.”

Will Roma be able to keep playing with the same intensity all season?

“Only time will tell, but we've improved in that sense because we all dug in and battled together after the break, We've got three important points but we must learn from our mistakes so that we don't repeat them in future.”

Were you expecting a performance like this?

“Not exactly. I knew they'd come out of the blocks quickly. In the second half we were trying to be a bit too clever with the ball. We needed to get it forward quickly when we broke but we did that less in the second half. Empoli played the ball straight up to Caputo whenever they got the ball.”

How did Luca Pellegrini do?

“He's a player with huge potential as long as he keeps knuckling down. He's aware of his ability and his strength. He wasn't at all out of his depth on his Serie A debut, despite finding himself up against a tough customer in [Afriyie] Acquah. Of course there are areas of his game he must improve. He had a calf problem so I thought it best to bring him off in the second half.”

Now you need Patrik Schick and Ante Coric firing on all cylinders...

“Ante is adapting to a different kind of football and he's making good progress. We need to give him time. He's a quality player but I have to make choices. With Patrik we just needed something to click. He's an exceptionally talented player and sooner or later he'll show us all.”