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Read what the coach had to say.
In the five major European leagues, no one has scored as many goals as Donyell Malen since he made his debut for Roma. Did you expect this level of consistency?
“It was hard to imagine he’d do those numbers. Extraordinary numbers. He’s done something special and, above all, he’s shown consistency. They are extraordinary numbers and then there’s the level of quality and the characteristics he showed when scoring them. When we signed Malen, I knew he’d be important for us, but it’s clear we’ve gone beyond that now.”
Has Rodrigo Mora already settled into your system?
“I see what you all see. He’s very young, and that’s not often considered. He’s got talent and he needs to develop further, mainly physically but also tactically. Obviously, he’s just arrived. What he’s shown so far in matches is that he’s a highly talented young player of the highest calibre. I don’t think there’s anyone in the world as young as him who’s playing such a leading role right now.”
On the topic of defence, Leonardo Balerdi seems ready. Could starting lineup hierarchies start changing?
“Please stop with all this talk about hierarchies. It’s not fair on the players. Everyone is giving all they can. This desire to construct a hierarchy makes no sense and isn’t beneficial to the team. [Daniele] Ghilardi has improved, [Konstantinos] Koulierakis is an important option. We already knew about Balerdi. He’s a player who achieved something remarkable at Marseille. He’s not a little boy. As soon as he arrived, we knew we’d brought in a great player. When we start talking about hierarchies, saying one player plays and another doesn’t and feels frustrated, that’s not how it works in teams competing in the Champions League. There are several regular starters without the need to promote one and drop another. It always becomes a controversial issue that does no good.”
Roma are coming off the back of two mentally draining matches. What is the risk in the next game? How do you combat the fear that you might pay a price mentally?
“You need a solid group, which luckily, we have. You must never undermine that. We have really great players here and we have faith in everyone. There isn’t a standard approach to managing periods in which you have a lot of games. You take it as it comes and hope to get it right. After the international break, there will be very few days between matches. If a player is fit, he carries on. If I see that someone’s fatigued, I’ll substitute him and wait for him to get back on form. It’s a cycle. They’re all reliable players. No one gets dropped, otherwise you get constant controversies that do damage to the team.”
Did you see the banner that Bergamo put up about Marten De Roon? Have you spoken to him?
“We’ll talk about it today. He built up Atalanta and the city of Bergamo for many years. Perhaps that’s why they put up the banner. Now he’s here with us and we’re lucky to have him. Once he’s back to his best, he’ll be a great player with lots of character, just like Balerdi. It wasn’t his choice. He wasn’t part of Atalanta’s plans, so what was he meant to do? End up as an old pair of boots in a cupboard and never play for another club? I’m really pleased he’s here and he’ll make an extremely important contribution. It takes nothing away from what he’s done in his career. He’s not just a corner flag, he’s a banner stretching the length of the stand for that club and that city. He’s getting better and better. He’ll be a very important player for us. We have four players in midfield, all of whom are vital.”
How is Paulo Dybala?
“If he’s fit, he’ll always play, without a doubt. You rest when you’re tired. If he’s fit, would you send him to bed? You can never know when someone’s going to get injured, but if you’re fit, you play. If you need a rest, it’s only right you rest. That’s how we’ll handle it, on a case-by-case basis. The important thing is to try and make the most of each player’s best form. All matches are hard. It’s not as though playing against Torino is easier than playing against anyone else. We’ll be up against a determined team who will want to give their best performance and, in any competition, if you’re not on top form, you can’t assume you’ll win matches. We’ll have to play a great game tomorrow to win in Turin because it’s a tough fixture and we need to be at our best. Each time, we’ll have to put the previous match behind us. We need to be set for Torino.”
What’s your view on Santiago Castro? Could he start?
“And then maybe Malen won’t play (laughs, ed.). Let’s go back to what we were saying earlier. Castro is an important player who we wanted. He’s doing well. We need to move away from this ‘starters versus substitutes’ mentality. There’s him, there’s Malen, there’s Mora, there’s [Matias] Soule. They’re all doing well. Castro has always come on, except for the last match in Turkey, and so has Mora. We’ll also have [Lorenzo] Pellegrini tomorrow. He’ll be travelling with us, and he’ll be in the squad. Perhaps, for the first time, we’ll all be here. [Emanuele] Lulli has a slight fever, so we’ll see how he is today but he’s feeling better. All 20 of these players, plus the goalkeepers, can be part of this team.”
Just to be clear about what you said about the squad, could Manu Kone be included too?
“We’ll see about Kone today. He could be there too.”
Last season, Roma conceded the most goals between the 45th and 60th minute. At the start of this season, you’ve conceded two goals at the start of the second half. Are you working on that or is it just a coincidence?
“Firstly, we’re trying to avoid conceding at the start of the second half. We’ve conceded in these two games, but overall, we’ve performed well in both. The most important thing is obviously not to concede goals.”
Will we see Koulierakis in Turin?
“I don’t know. He’s fit and I’m very please with what he’s doing. Don’t you want to see [Mario] Hermoso? [Evan] Ndicka? There’s always someone who’s left out, but I can assure you that Roma will have 16 players in Turin too. Unfortunately, some won’t play, but they may feature in a later match.”
I want to ask about Wesley and Nahuel Molina. The Brazilian seemed a bit tired and there’s been a lot of talk about Molina. He was a key signing in the summer, so what can we expect?
“The best. Both are doing well. Wesley took a nasty knock to the knee the other day, which affected him towards the end, but they’re very strong athletes and they’ll recover in two days, let alone four. Molina arrived at the end of August. He’s been with us for 15 days and missed our pre-season training, but I can see him improving. He, like De Roon and the other new signings, is a bit behind. The others have been here since 13 July.
The team has responded well until they’ve faced difficulties in matches. Do you think this is an established quality within the squad?
“I’m very pleased with the team regarding how they train and how they approach matches. In difficult, complicated games, they always go in with a good mindset, always ready to give their all to get a result. They’ve managed to win the crowd over and then there are the matches themselves. Balanced, but difficult games for everyone. Now that we’ve got past the first phase, we’re entering into a period with more matches. I think it’s going to be a very tough and evenly matched season. Once all the teams have finished finding their feet, every match will be a tough one, compounded by the fact that those competing in cup competitions have to reset after every game, whether they’ve won or lost. It’s a gruelling pace, but that’s what football is like at the highest level, and the players must be able to look ahead.”
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