Mourinho sees fighting spirit despite disappointing draw

Jose Mourinho was relieved his side managed to dig in and rescue a draw on Sunday night, as they came away from Reggio Emilia with a point.

The Giallorossi drew 2-2 with Sassuolo thanks to Bryan Cristante's injury time equaliser, after Tammy Abraham had opened the scoring at the Mapei Stadium just before half-time.

Here's what Mourinho had to say after the contest...

What do you make of a draw tonight?

“When you find yourself behind in the 90th minute and then find a way to draw, it does change things a bit from an emotional perspective. If you had asked me before the game if I would be happy with a draw, my answer would have been no. If you asked me the same question at half-time, I would have given you the same answer. But then if you asked me the question after 90 minutes tonight I would have said, ‘Yes, please’.

“For this reason, when it came to the final few minutes, we can compare this game to the defeat against Bologna or the games against Verona and Venezia. Those were very similar matches in terms of the last 10, 15 minutes where we were looking to try and get a draw. They could have all been turned into points … today we managed to do that.

“It is not the result we wanted but it at least means we remain unbeaten for the last four games in Serie A, picking up eight points. If you ask me whether I would have wanted more, than clearly the answer is yes: especially against Genoa we could have taken more points. But at least this result gives me the feeling that the squad will keep on fighting until the very end.”

Today Roma seemed to lack something once again – perhaps a lack of technical quality in the final third?

“Yes, even when we had a man advantage: 10 minutes like that is not a lot, certainly not enough to completely change the overall statistics from the match. Coming here and having 50% of the ball is not easy. It means at the back we had a bit of stability: Marash Kumbulla gave us that additional ability moving the ball out.

“In midfield, in the early part of the game we lacked organisation and discipline. Every time the ball got out to Matias Vina or Rick Karsdorp, we did not have many options to move the ball square and we almost always tried to the deep ball. Often they anticipated that move and not even Felix had much of chance in that regard – in 70 minutes he perhaps only got in behind once.

“In the final part of the match, even while it was still 11 against 11, you got the feeling that the team was improving. The point was certainly deserved. As I’ve said, the frustration tonight stems from the fact that we came here to win the game. But in the end we have got a point and we will see how that ends up helping us.”

Your team did not lose their heads, even after a pretty chaotic week considering some of the stories that came out…

“There is only one story that I cannot deny, that I cannot say was a lie. All the others, though… It’s poor journalism, journalism without ethics and without the essence of what journalism should be. Which is, ultimately, about the truth.

“One definite quality about this group of players is the empathy and friendship they have for each other. We can be poor – anyone can say that Mourinho or his players are not good enough – but no-one can say we are not very, very united.

“We are, and for that reason no-one can hurt this group in that way. In terms of footballing ability and technical quality then we might have our limits – the second goal might cause me a sleepless night tonight, it was nightmare stuff – but we are a really close-knit group. That’s undeniable.”

How do you decide whether to go with three at the back or four?

“Generally it’s about seeing how comfortable the players feel with it. I am not deciding based on what I prefer or what my core idea about football is – it’s more about the players we have and the best system for them to feel comfortable. That’s really important to me.

“It’s about the sort of players we have and their characteristics, and the way they fit together best overall.”

How is the relationship going between Lorenzo Pellegrini and Sergio Oliveira?

“It’s the first time they have played together. Honestly, both of them can do better – both individually and in terms of how they operate as a tandem. Sergio has not been here long and Pellegrini has only just returned from injury. So it was a bit of a risk to put them out there together for 90 minutes, but we needed to do it given how the game ended up going. The pairing between the two of them will improve with time.

“I can’t hide the fact that Cristante, Veretout, Pellegrini and Sergio Oliveira are all quality players – but we don’t have players who can play in there, in the engine room, who can move the ball around and dictate the rhythm of the game and chose when to go long and when to go short.

“In my opinion Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s adaptation – as he is clearly not a regista or one who can play in front of the defence – has been really good. He’s not that sort of player but among all the players we have he perhaps has the most qualities required, in terms of thinking about the movements and how to use the ball and where to find the space. He seems transformed to me. I think he’s the team’s most important player right now because of that.

“We push on. We need to improve, we need to do everything we can to finish as high up the table as possible. And we need to improve because we still have the Conference League to fight for. People are wrong if they think there are no good sides in that competition. The other day I watched PSG against Rennes and I saw a really strong potential opponent – and there are others.”