Fonseca: I'm proud of the team's effort

Paulo Fonseca faced the media on Sunday afternoon as he gave his verdict on the goalless draw with Sassuolo.

In a controversial game that saw both the coach and Pedro shown red cards, Fonseca insisted he was pleased with his players - although disappointed with some other elements of the match.

Here's what he had to say...

In the second half there was a response from Roma – how happy are you with that?

“Yes, I’m really proud of the team. We played well, we had the best chances to score, we were always well organised defensively and we never allowed Sassuolo – who are a great side – to have chances.”

What did you make of the refereeing? Were you happy with it?

“No. Let’s talk about a few of the incidents. I don’t understand the first foul [yellow] for Pedro: how can you give him a yellow card in that situation?

"And then, after that, how can it only then be a yellow for the foul Obiang committed on Lorenzo Pellegrini? I understand that the referee might not see it, but that’s what VAR is there for. And how can he have doubts about the penalty? [for handball] It seems clear to me.”

What did you say to the referee to earn a red card?

“I asked him about the first yellow card for Pedro, because I didn’t understand it – and then I told him, ‘Enough, we’ve committed five fouls and you’ve shown us four yellow card!’ Just that.”

In the second half did you need Edin Dzeko to get himself in more attacking areas?

“Dzeko worked really hard to help the team out defensively, but when you do that it’s difficult to be up at the other end as well – especially for a player who has been out for a while, who works as hard as he does for the team. He did have some chances, though. But I think in the second half we deserved to score.”

Do you think you could partner Dzeko and Borja Mayoral together?

“It could be an option, especially as Borja settles in. Today we changed the way we defended, we started with Pedro working around Dzeko. It was important not to leave Sassuolo space to play in the middle. But that pairing could be an option.”

You talk about wanting a Roma side with character. At Napoli it wasn’t there. Were you annoyed by that?

“It’s clear to see what happened in Naples. And today, just like against Young Boys on Thursday, the team played well. We understood what we had to improve on. And we showed that in this game.”