February 5th, in the 21st round of Serie A, Rome beat Empoli 2-0 at home.
Roma coach Mourinho was interviewed after the game.
Speaking of Abraham who scored in this field, Mourinho said: “I have had doubts about him for a while this season, not about his ability, but about himself. He has gone through a difficult period.
.But now, even if he doesn’t score, he can be there and make a huge contribution.”
“In the second half he did everything perfectly: possession of the ball, helping in defense, interacting very well with Dybala. It was great for him.”
Speaking of winning this game, Mourinho said: “We had a perfect game plan for the first 30 minutes of the game, and then the intensity of the game dropped. It’s not that I want the players to do this, but it’s a natural thing. Dybala
There is a problem with his health and Pellegrini has worked very hard to be able to play.”
“I’m happy because we had our own limitations, but we did what we needed to do. We got the three points against a difficult team. At the moment, Empoli is in very good form.
Well, maybe for the best. I think it’s a big win because it’s a really tough team.”
“I think some people in the stadium don’t understand that, the media needs to understand that this is where we are. If we had beaten Cremona, we would have reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. We gave everything we could,
Fight hard. I told the players before the game that you have to carry the burden of sadness and frustration to move on, but we can’t wait for others to help us because only we can help ourselves. That’s how we felt when we warmed up.”
Speaking of Belotti can only play in stoppage time of the game, Mourinho said: “The fact is that we have given everything we can, and we can’t do more for this. Football can only play 11 people
, we know that. Other teams have talented players on the bench, but they will not be questioned by the outside world. We poor guys, Belotti has not played a game, and then you
It started to question me.”
“It’s better to play 30 seconds than not to play. I understand players don’t want to play 30 seconds, but I want to win and it helps me to win games. If you put Abraham and Belotti at the same time, the team will immediately
Something went wrong.”
Speaking of Zaniolo not leaving the team, Mourinho said: “This is the club’s problem, so I don’t have to do anything about it. He has to solve it with the club, not come to me. As for Smalling
, I can’t persuade him to stay.”
“I could have left in December but I didn’t, it’s my life and every day we play. Sometimes we struggle but we’re competing against other very strong teams.”
(Jay Chan)