Fonseca: There's always pressure to perform

Coach Paulo Fonseca faced the media on Wednesday afternoon, as he previewed the Europa League last-32 tie with Gent.

Thursday's first leg at the Stadio Olimpico gets underway at 21:00 local time.

Here's what the Portuguese had to say going into the contest...

What worries you more about tomorrow's game, Gent or Roma's form?

“I'm only worried about what we need to do to win the game. We're up against a very good team but we've worked well this week. The lads look better and they're ready for this match.”

The papers say you had a confrontation with the players. Can you tell us what happened?

“I have a good relationship with the players and always have. It's easy to make up stories about the dressing room now – problems between the players, coach and club. I think that's unfair. We're going about our jobs honestly and speak to each other openly, without trying to hide anything. We always talk about the problems we have. It's not right to make up stories like this. It's all too easy to write stuff like that about Roma at the moment.”

How is Lorenzo Pellegrini? He doesn't seem to be on top of his game at the moment. Is it a fitness issue?

“We don't want to give the players excuses. It's true that Pellegrini had an injury and he still feels it at times but I've spoken to him and there's no problem there. It's more to do with this spell we're going through as a team: I think Lorenzo somehow feels more responsible for this situation. He needs to maintain perspective and not rush things; he doesn't need to show how desperate he is to turn things around.

"We all need to keep a sense of perspective, and especially him because he's shown he's a great player and a great human being. If he can do that, he'll go back to being the player he was before.”

How is Amadou Diawara?

“We're very optimistic about him. He started training with us again two days ago. He's looking good and hopefully he'll keep improving every day. I spoke to him after training and he told me he's much better and doesn't feel any pain anymore. That's great news for us at the moment. We'll see how he gets on in the coming days but after the first days working with the team we feel very positive.”

Winning the Europa League would be a way for Roma to qualify for next year's Champions League. What does the team think about that?

“I think we have two possibilities. Not many people think we can qualify via the league but we still believe it's possible. Right now the most important thing is that we get back to playing the way we were before, without adding any sort of pressure.. We can't think about winning something unless we first get back to being the team we were. That's what we must do now – regain our swagger and believe we can beat teams. The most important thing is we feel confident about winning the difficult game we have to play tomorrow.”

How are you finding the pressure that builds up in Rome when things aren't going so well?

“This is something I've spoken to my assistant about. There's so much negativity here and I don't get it. The first thing I heard when I spoke to lots of people about Roma was that it's a very difficult place to work with intense pressure. People always speak negatively. If you don't want pressure as a coach, then you can't coach a team like Roma, a big club. You get it everywhere and it's not a problem for me. In Ukraine there was no pressure because we weren't playing in Donetsk anymore, but there's pressure with Dynamo Kiev.

"If I wanted somewhere with no pressure, I wouldn't have come here. And nor would I have coached teams that want to win. The pressure is not an excuse for me. I'm ready for this type of pressure. I don't think I'm any different to others. When I don't win the criticism is harsh and when I do win the criticism is less harsh. That's how it is at all big clubs and I accept it. Everyone says Rome is difficult but I think it's like all big clubs when you're not winning. It's not an excuse for me.”

Could tomorrow be the right time for Carles Perez to make his full debut?

“Yes, I can tell you that he'll play tomorrow.”

Will Davide Santon play at right-back since Bruno Peres is not available?

“We'll see tomorrow.”

The last time Roma kept a clean sheet was against Parma and you played with a three-man defence. Is that something you're considering to try to rediscover your defensive solidity?

“We could play with a three-man backline again but it depends on the type of match it is. I have no problem recognising that in certain games it's better to go with three at the back. I can't tell you if we will tomorrow but I have no issue playing with three in some games. What's more important than the system at the moment is the way we defend. That's where we need to improve.”

Roma have sometimes been criticised for being too daring but you've conceded goals with the defence in position from set-pieces. You don't seem to be as good at that anymore. What's happened?

“It's not normal as it's happened in two or three games. It's a problem of focus at the moment. The players are less confident and more on edge – they fear the slightest mistake could lead to a goal. It's just this spell we're going through and it's not normal that a team like ours concedes goals from set plays. We worked on set-pieces today, as we do before every game.”

Roma seemed to be less in the game against Bologna and Atalanta. Can you explain it from a tactical point of view?

“It's not easy to play against a team like Atalanta. We messed up the dead balls but those were small details. Tactically we did well. I don't remember other teams limiting Atalanta to so few chances. Defensively we were good. Attacking-wise we played differently to other games. You can't expect to play a quick passing game with lots of little layoffs against Atalanta. As for Bologna, we've understood what went wrong there and it wasn't a tactical problem.”