Fonseca: Side responded well to early setback

Read what the boss had to say following Monday night's 3-3 draw with AC Milan...

The Giallorossi came from behind three times to draw at the San Siro, with Edin Dzeko, Jordan Veretout and Marash Kumbulla all on the scoresheet.

Here's what Paulo Fonseca thought about the game...

What went well and what went less well tonight?

“The positive aspect is that we scored three goals, the less positive aspect is that we conceded three goals! But it was a very even game.

"We conceded a goal in the opening few minutes but after that the team responded well, with courage, with quality in the build-up. But we made mistakes with our final decision-making, in the last third of the pitch.”

Do you have any comment about the two penalty decisions?

“I don’t want to say anything. All of us understand that there are days where we can all make mistakes. If the referee made mistakes today, then he made then for both teams.”

Do you think this game was ultimately a step forward for Roma?

“That’s not really what I wanted before this game: I wanted to win. But it happened, we got back into the game and a draw is positive in the end.”

You decided to swap players around in defence: Gianluca Mancini in the middle and Roger Ibanez on the right. What was the thinking there?

“It’s simple. [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic plays very centrally, he doesn’t drop that deep or wide, whereas Leao is very fast and attacks the spaces a bit more than some of the others. When he does that he is often quicker than the defender he is up against. But Ibanez is very quick himself, and that’s why I swapped those two around.”

What are the targets for this Roma side?

“We want to do better than last season. But I have to say that our thoughts are only ever on the next game. We need to be focused on CSKA Sofia, but we can do that aware that we are doing okay, we are improving, we are gaining confidence. We need to remain ambitious, but we have to do that while building game-by-game.”

How many sides do you see out there who are better than Roma?

“If we are talking about investments made, then I think we all know that there are two that are ahead of the rest. But we need to show what we are capable of out there on the pitch.”