Mourinho: "Renato Sanches and Dybala back in the squad"

Read what the boss had to say...

Can we start with an update on Paulo Dybala and Renato Sanches?  

“Renato and Paulo will be back in the squad. They're not in perfect condition but the medical staff and our sports science team tell me there's no risk, which is what we need to hear. The players need to know that too so that they feel confident enough to go back out on the pitch, even if they're not at their best. Those two will be back in the squad and can lend us a hand. The other players who have been out remain unavailable”.

What's your view of Lecce? 

“They're a good team. A counter-attacking team, if I had to describe them in a few words. They have a lot of pace on both flanks and options to mix things up during the game, as they often do.

“They're dangerous on the counter and have a very good coach who has them well organised when they build play and when they defend. They're having an excellent season and have only lost one game by a big margin, I think, against Napoli. In all their other games they either came away with a result or were fighting till the very end to get one. They a tough proposition”.

Can you tell us something about the game against Inter last Sunday? One of the criticisms levelled at you was that Roma went there to hold out for a goalless draw. It's true that you're missing five first-choice players but how big a gap is there between Roma and Serie A's top teams?

“I don't want to get into criticism or talk about plans for the future by saying what we are or aren't missing. But one of the things you mentioned is important: if we're missing five first-choice players, that's a lot. And we don't have another five like them. If Inter are missing five, they have another five. If Milan are missing five, they have others. If Juventus are missing them, they have another five. If Atalanta or Fiorentina are missing five, they have another five. When we're missing five first-choice players, we don't have another five. Your question already contains half of the answer”.

Last year the club did a good job with injured players. And the team always responded well. I think they've done a good job this season too. Do you just have to accept that some players will never be able to perform at 100% capacity for a long time given their medical history?

“Like with the previous question, you've included the answer yourself. They're different points but you've answered yourself there by mentioning medical history. An injured player is one thing. An injured player with medical history is another. An injured player, like all players and all athletes, has suffered an injury. They don't have medical history.

“Players with a medical history regularly suffer with physical problems that keep coming back, season after season. It's a completely different thing. If it's not an injury caused through contact or an aggressive opponent, like [Jose Luis] Palomino in Dybala last season, they're injuries where the coaching staff feel they need to do a bit more in terms of injury prevention and where the medical staff feel they need to do a bit more to try to speed up recovery.

“It's difficult when a player has a medical history. Take Gareth Bale: he was at the best club in the world for four or five years but because of his medical history he wasn't always the super Gareth Bale. But when he wasn't available, there were other players who could come in of a similar level so that his absence wasn't felt.

“Roma have several players with a medical history. I'm happy to have them and I'm thankful that I have them at certain times, when they're available. But when they're not, they're not. We have to fight against a medical history with several of our players”.

So you were expecting to lose them?

“Do you think Dybala or Renato Sanches would be here if they didn't have a medical history? Just to name two, they wouldn't be here”.

You've just given Chris Smalling a new two-year contract.

“Don't talk to me about contracts or the future in terms of contracts. I had Smalling at Manchester United. I've known him very well for eight years – better than anyone else here – and I'm very happy when he's available”.

You said you're happy to have players even with a medical history, so I guess you weren't expecting 50 matches from the likes of Renato Sanches, Dybala, Leo Spinazzola… 

“I'm happy to have them because I can't have anything else”.

You said Roma don't have five players to replace first-choice players.

“We do have five other players but five players of a different level. For example, [Edoardo] Bove and [Nicola] Zalewski played the last game. They play for Roma but they're not the finished article. I didn't think I'd come here to talk about these things today. There are other people you should ask.

“I always give everything I have. That's why I didn't want to get into the question about criticism of the way we played. I'm very demanding of myself and the worst thing for me is when I'm not happy with myself. I get frustrated when I realise I could and should have done better or more. And I find it very hard to live with that feeling. After the match against Inter, I didn't have that feeling. I felt exactly the opposite.

“Our performance was in line with our potential. We were in the game until the final whistle and with a tad more luck we might have taken the lead with [Bryan] Cristante's ball or the foul on [Stephan] El Shaarawy that was half a metre away from being a penalty. We got what we expected from that game: few opportunities to win but organisation, a method, and a mindset that we didn't want to lose. We did everything right and we were very close to pulling it off.

“After that match, I went away sad because of the all effort my players put in – players who had played two days earlier, players like [Gianluca] Mancini, Cristante, [Diego] Llorente, [Evan] Ndicka, Romelu [Lukaku] who have played 90 minutes four or five games in a row. Tired players versus fresh players. I went away feeling satisfied with myself and my players.

“We lost to a goal that we shouldn't have conceded – we all know that and we've analysed it. You should never lose your position in the middle of the box. But given their legs, their fatigue, the lads played well. We played with four key players on a yellow for a long time. If you're able to change those players, you do. If you can't, they keep playing with that added restriction and pressure.

“We were playing the best team in Italy and with half our team we battled to come away with a result until the last minute, organised, with a good mentality, and tomorrow we'll go again. Without [Leo] Paredes, with half of Paulino and a third of Renato. They'll help us. We won three in a row in the league to move closer to where we want to be. We'll try to win tomorrow to move closer again”.

I'd like to ask you about the wide players. Against Inter we saw Zeki Celik on the left as Spinazzola was missing. Was that a one-off solution or might we see it again in future given that you have Rick Kardorp and Rasmus Kristensen on the right?

“We try to do the best thing possible for the team – it's that simple. Why Karsdorp didn't play and Kristensen did, why Celik didn't play and Zalewski did, why El Shaarawy didn't play at wing-back and instead played up front – all of it out of necessity and to try to get the best out of the team”.

Your squad was complete only after the game against AC Milan. Since then, I recall only one bad game – when you lost to Genoa. Otherwise the team has been consistent. A problem you might have in future is when the fixture list throws together a high concentration of matches. Lega Calcio CEO [Luigi De Siervo] said that if Mourinho mentions the fixture list he's just making excuses for his team, which I found surprising given his high profile. Do you see the fixture list as a problem?

“We know the fixture list and the number of games before the season starts. 38 Serie A games plus a few in the Coppa Italia and Europa League. Some teams don't have a big problem dealing with back-to-back matches, while others don't have the same potential.

“To give you a simple example, if we had six centre-backs we could play every three days. But we have four, sometimes three and sometimes two. That makes everything more difficult.

“In football people use the word excuse when you lose. Afterwards. You don't use the word excuse beforehand. We do talk about the fixture list but we've been talking about it since the start of the season. We didn't start talking about it after we lost to Inter.

“I understand that lots of people get parachuted into football. It's not their world and they don't know it. They get there through their status, politics, their nice suit and tie. Those people are parachuted into it. It's not the world they grew up in. They're people you have to respect for their status and that's understandable.

“It's not worth commenting on. It's like me talking about atomic physics, film production or any other industry. We're talking about parachutists who have landed here and we have to respect them. They don't know what it means to play three days later. They don't know about accumulated fatigue. They don't know what makes a difference.

“They either don't know or – and this would be even more serious – they do know and they pretend they do. There are people I know who work for Lega Calcio, people who have worked in football, who have worked at clubs, who know what the difficulties are, what tiredness is, people who have worked at an organisational level for clubs and who know what it takes to recover from the travelling, the distance, the hotels. People who could have a positive influence.

“The fact that we're playing in Europe and after playing in Europe we're always the team that struggles most... Look, if our club doesn't ask this question publicly, if our club doesn't ask this question at an institutional level, if I'm always the one who has to come here in front of you and talk about the same things.

“However, in this specific case, perhaps I've got my grammar wrong. I think there's grammar and there's football grammar. In my book, an excuse – in football grammar – is something you use afterwards. And sadly I've been talking about these things since the start of the season.

“It will happen again next week and it's the only time when we can talk about bad luck. Lazio are playing in Europe on Tuesday and we play on Thursday. We can't play on Monday because of the international break, so the game has to be on Sunday. In this case, I say we're unlucky.

“There's nothing else to say. Lazio will have an advantage, for sure, but there's nothing else to say, to comment on or criticise.

 “But for everything else that has happened until now and will happen again, I think Roma are really being penalised. Fortunately for me, the fans aren't stupid. Because if the Lega anthem gets booed at the Olimpico in every game, there must be a reason for it. They're not stupid”.