Mourinho: “A corageous win”

Roma managed to grind out a win against a defensively-resolute Monza side.

“I don’t think they deserved to lose. Obviously I'm grateful to have got the win – I could sense that things weren’t going so well for us. We made a lot of mistakes and some of my players were struggling physically. I’m referring to those who had made big trips recently – [Leandro] Paredes, who was in Argentina and Peru, [Evan] Ndicka and [Houssem] Aouar. The three of them found it tough going, while some others were sloppy in their play. 

“Monza have some great players and a top coach – they didn’t make life easy for us. Courage got us over the finish line today – we gave our all to make this happen. We hit the woodwork twice and Monza also had their share of chances. The football on display today wasn’t the best quality but it was an exciting encounter.”

Do Roma need to improve their teamwork when playing with a front two? At points [Romelu] Lukaku and [Andrea] Belotti seemed to be a bit isolated.

“In the absence of [Paulo] Dybala and Lorenzo [Pellegrini] we’re missing a player to link midfield and attack. I tried Aouar in this role but his skillset is different to the aforementioned. We’ve played with two up top in the past have and done well, though. However these two guys aren’t creative types and neither drops deep to link play. When we’re missing a number ten like Lorenzo or a second striker like Paulo we struggle to thread things together. 

“Monza dropped deep and have experienced defenders. [Pablo] Mari is a rock at the back – they were very solid. They performed well with their low block and caused us issues when some of their pacier players came off the bench. Monza’s coach [Raffaele] Palladino made a good choice in bringing on [Dany] Mota and [Samuele] Vignato, the latter of which gave us a real headache. While they threw on daring, pacey and creative players we tried to go for victory, in turn losing our solidity.

“It was a very tough match. After seeing [Sardar] Azmoun's effort hit the post, even more so than Lukaku's, I said to myself: “If that doesn’t in then it’s just not our day.” However [Stephan] El Shaarawy felt like he had a goal in him, and he managed to bag one at the death.” 

In light of recent events, have you had a conversation with El Shaarawy?

“Yes, but only a brief one. I have a very real relationship with my players. Even when being critical I'm direct, and they know that with me an ugly truth is better than a pretty lie. When Stephan and the kid (Nicola Zalewski, ed.) told me not to worry because there was zero truth to the rumours my mind was put at ease.”

Why were you sent off at the end?

“I don't know exactly. I made a gesture towards the Monza bench. That might be why I was dismissed. But I didn’t say anything offensive. I did it for a simple reason – last season we played great against Monza, but after the match some decent but naïve people had bad words to say about us. Today the only people to make a song and dance of things and put pressure on the referee were those in the away dugout. I’m not criticising them for this, I’m just saying that you should avoid such slander after matches.

“All I can is that Monza are a good team, that they have a good coach and that they didn't deserve to lose. I can't be more honest than that."

Where do you want to take this team moving forward? You praised Paredes: Roma are a different proposition with him in the side. What kind of Roma will we see when all of your players are available?

“Basically, I want to play with Paredes and [Bryan] Cristante. Obviously I can’t pick them for every game. Despite the fact that today we seemed to have lack balance and found transitions difficult, especially in the second half, our improvements since the defeat in Genoa are down to having two solid players in midfield to compensate for our weaknesses. These are namely the fact that we’re not a pacey team and when it comes to individual duels, transitions and dropping back quickly, we’re lacking a specialist in such a role.

“We were trying to strike a balance but we lost our structure when we poured forward towards the end of the match. Had we drawn or even lost against a Monza team who’d been down to ten men for much of the game then that would certainly have been a negative for us.”