Mourinho: We didn't have clarity in our play

Queste sono le parole di mister Mourinho dopo il Derby.

Perhaps tonight the team lacked a bit of clarity of thought in the final third…

“I completely agree with you. Too much emotion and not enough understanding of our objective and the way we wanted to be organised throughout the game. It’s not easy to play against a side that side that sits deep, against a side that does a clever job of timewasting and changing the rhythm of the game. And for us, without that little flash of quality that special players have, we were missing something.

"Without Paulo Dybala and without Lorenzo Pellegrini, you have 20-25 minutes where you need to score but you need to have the right approach in order to do so. I am completely in agreement with you, because we were dominating and even Lazio came here saying, ‘We are here to defend the goal we have and play as little as possible’.

“They did that well and we lacked the clarity you talk about. And we also lacked that spark of quality that helps you find the right pocket of space, the assist, the individual moment of skill that can make all the difference. We tried to do that with Volpato, who certainly did not do badly, but things went how they did.”

And you didn’t get goals from your forwards tonight.

“Not just the goals – even the teamwork, even winning the individual duels. Because even when you are lacking a bit of invention and the team is playing very directly, you need to win some of the individual battles. Tonight some of our most experienced forwards didn’t do that.”

Another injury tonight, this time for Lorenzo Pellegrini.

“It’s normal, it’s normal. There are players that are playing every game, because if they do not play the team struggles. I have two options: take a risk and play them, or don’t risk them and then we don’t have the quality on the pitch. From the moment we lost two of our first three in the Europa League, and then needed seven points from the final three, that’s why Pellegrini has played in every game – including 90 minutes the other day [against Ludogorets].

“It’s normal that players will pick up injuries in those circumstances, there’s nothing you can do about it. There are lots of players who have picked up injuries because of all the games they have played. In my team I do not have that many players who will go to the World Cup, because Italy have not qualified, and so we don’t have this same pressure that some players are feeling right now – but injuries are naturally going to happen.”

You said Dybala would only be back in 2023 – but could we now see him next weekend against Torino?

“Clearly he wants to play at the World Cup: it’s logical he would and it would be difficult to deny him that. And if he is thinking he can go to the World Cup, and if there is good progress with his injury, then on Sunday he could be there against Torino because we could do with him.”

Roma have lost some big games at the Olimpico this season…

“We’ve lost, but undeservedly so in my opinion. Atalanta won 1-0 with just one shot on goal. Napoli won but it was the game where they faced the most difficulty of any so far this season – and they only won thanks to an amazing goal from Osimhen at the end.

“And today Lazio came here, scored half a goal and they won. They are all undeserved defeats. If you tell me that we lack quality in the final third, that we lack a player that can create chances and put them away, then that is true. But the identity and the mentality of the side to always try and get a result, even if sometimes they get things wrong, is beyond reproach.”

With all these injuries, could you make a big splash in the transfer market in January?

“Objectively speaking, I don’t think so. We need to try and get back our injured players. I don’t know if Wijnaldum will be back in time for the restart to the season, but I don’t think Roma will go out and spend big in the transfer market. We need to get back those players we already have.

“The boy Volpato has now played in four games in a row. If we need to give more opportunities to some of the young players then we will do so.”