De Rossi reacts to draw with Cagliari

Roma were a different team in the second half.

“Yes, we did better after the interval. In the first half, we struggled to get going. I had actually told them to avoid playing too many passes on the deck because the pitch was so dry. I asked my players to play in a more direct style because I didn’t want to encourage Cagliari’s aggression, but we did stay pretty well organised throughout.

 “It was much better in the second half. They did have a few chances and we had two or three ourselves. I saw much better things in the second half.”

The second half went through Matias Soule. Was he the driving force in the second half?

“Yes, absolutely. That’s what he needs to do. We ask him to do that in addition to the defensive side. He’s always alive and in the game. He’s also so young, so he gets some things right and other things wrong, but he has such a positive attitude. He has real quality. We were looking for someone like him, who could excel both in quality and speed. I liked his performance. I think he’ll continue to improve in terms of his understanding with his team-mates and his fitness.”

There’s a feeling you find it easy to develop the play in the final third. Is that what you want to work on in the coming weeks?

“Yes, it can come down to centimetres. By doing all the rest well, from the defensive line to the timing of the line and showing aggression, you can sometimes have more of the ball and therefore you get into the final third more often. In the first half, we didn’t do that much and we need to do better and analyse the reasons why.

“As I’ve said, I’ve experienced so many games like this one. I haven’t been the coach, but I have played in them: a dry pitch, wind, aggressive opponents, a full stadium… If you start playing around near your own box, you run the risk of conceding goals that you wouldn’t believe.

“I asked them to play more direct to stretch the opponents a bit. Sometimes we managed it, sometimes we didn’t. In the second half, we managed to pin Cagliari back and when that happened, our forwards were able to showcase their quality more.”

Are you scared about the concept of Roma without Paulo Dybala?

“I’ve already spoken about this story quite a lot and I said I wouldn’t come back to it again. We’ll speak about the transfer market and who’s here in September. I would be scared about Roma without Paulo and any replacements who could come in if he or anyone else leaves.

“In terms of numbers, the squad is fine as it is. If someone leaves and we don’t manage to bring anyone in, I might be scared, but if someone leaves and we manage to replace them, even in other areas of the pitch with functional and strong players, we’ll move forward and work with the players who we have.”

Artem Dovbyk seemed to grow into the game.

“Yes, it wasn’t an easy game for him because we played so many long balls in the first half and we didn’t do so from where we wanted to. The soft, high balls were hard to judge, due to the wind and the pressure from defenders. We didn’t put the best conditions in place for him. He did really well in the second half by holding the ball up many times and nearly scoring. I feel he’ll score plenty.”