Jose Mourinho was bitterly disappointed following Roma’s Derby della Capitale loss to Lazio.
The Giallorossi had to face the Biancocelesti without new star Paulo Dybala and his absence was clearly felt, with Mourinho’s side looking sterile and unimaginative in the final third. Lazio took the lead early in the second half thanks to Felipe Anderson and they held firm to snap up all three points after a tight battle.
Speaking in a press conference (via TMW), Mourinho first discussed if he expected Lazio to play the way they did against Roma.
I think the game they played was also the consequence of being 1-0 up. Low blocking, compact, all together, in our cultures we say it was a cynical, intelligent game, in England people go home after 20 minutes.
The tempo of the game was definitely very low, the intensity and continuity of play are very low, they understood that we were dominating but there was a lack of creativity in the last 20 metres.
There was talk of Milinkovic-Savic and Immobile, there was no mention of Dybala, I think he is more important because he is the light that gives us goals.
Without Lorenzo it’s even more difficult, but when Volpato came on he gave us creativity. There was little time to play, I think the last eight minutes were actually a minute and a half, they took the points and went home.
He commented on the disappointing work of Nicolo Zaniolo and Tammy Abraham.
They are totally different players. Nicolò is not creative, he has an incredible physical potential, when he finds spaces he is unstoppable, but if everyone is inside the area or in the final 20 metres it is difficult to find spaces.
I tried to find them by putting him on the right, but it became too emotional a game, I had no control over communication with the players. Too many people on the inside of the pitch, too many long balls.
Paulo, Lorenzo and Volpato are our creativity, on the boy we have hope, more than hope, confidence that he can be an important player.
Finally, Mourinho was asked why Roma top the Serie A expected goals table but have only scored the 9th most goals in the league this season.
The answer you want, I won’t give it to you. It’s my fault, let’s stay like this.
Roma currently sit 6th in the Serie A table, two points behind third place Lazio. Their final games before the World Cup break are against Sassuolo and Torino.
