Jose Mourinho was pleased with the resolute spirit his team showed on Thursday evening, as Roma ran out 1-0 winners against Vitesse Arnhem.
The Giallorossi hold the advantage in the Europa Conference League last-16 tie thanks to Sergio Oliveira's opportunistic strike, on a hard-fought night at the Gelredome.
Here's what Mourinho had to say about the match...
You had to adjust to the pitch tonight, but by the end you were controlling the game...
“Yes, the second half was decent but the first wasn’t. At 0-0 they were pushing us hard and we had a few problems. We got lucky on a couple of occasions.
“Today it was difficult to really play and to feel confident on the ball. In the second half though we did a better job of controlling the game.”
Did Sergio Oliveira convince you as the ‘regista’ tonight?
“When you don’t have a proper ‘regista’ you have to try out different dynamics. Today we weren’t really able to keep control of the ball, although in the second half we did a bit better. Tammy Abraham was often a bit isolated, Jordan Veretout found it hard, Ainsley Maitland-Niles couldn’t press high up – although in the second half Rick Karsdorp did better.
“In the second half I never felt like we were going to concede – I was very confident they would not score.”
Are you starting to build something solid here?
“We have been trying to do that from the very first day. Now, perhaps, for the first time we have a bit more stability as far as injuries go, with Leonardo Spinazzola the only one still out. Against Udinese we won’t have Mkhitaryan and Kumbulla - and against Vitesse we won't have Sergio and Mancini now - but we have a few different options to respond to that.
“The side has a better idea now of when to play and when to be a bit more pragmatic about things. We have managed to shed that habit of being a bit naïve – even during the difficult moments today the team found a way to respond positively.”
(Photo LaPresse)
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Source: legaseriea.it