See what the coach had to say when he faced the media on Saturday afternoon at Trigoria...

The coach began by giving a fitness update on his squad:

“Mario Rui, [Antonio] Rudiger and [Abdullahi] Nura are out. [Thomas Vermaelen] was carrying a knock after the Cagliari game. He went with the national team, trained with them, sat out the first friendly then took painkillers to play against Cyprus because he still had some pain. When he got back it was causing him real trouble. We rested him for Samp, then tested him in the week before Plzen and it was clear that he wasn’t yet ready to play. We kept him out of the team but he’s still in pain now. If we play him it will put him back and he’ll never get over it.

"Rudiger will start building up his fitness by doing some non-impact work with the Primavera side in the coming weeks, then after a few proper training sessions he’ll be back with us.”



The trip to Fiorentina is perhaps your first big match of the Serie A season. You were full of praise for them last year – do you think their biggest strength is still their control of possession and their biggest weakness their defence?



“They’re just like they were last year – a good team with a manager who has the respect of everyone in a demanding city like Florence. The fact that he can win over a place like Florence shows that he knows his stuff. They play good football based on possession and creating attacking moves to score goals and win games. The consequence of that is that they play with a high line and sometimes find it tough when defending – that’s inevitable and happens to all teams that play proper football and want to flood the opposition box with players.

"There will be a good atmosphere at the stadium, but we’re used to that. There are no easy matches in this league. For example, Samp produced another good performance against AC Milan last night and that’s another illustration of how difficult and even this league is. I believe that Fiorentina will be up at the higher end of the table come the end of the season. We need to find a good balance and avoid the ups and downs we’ve been struggling with recently.”



You seem to be struggling with the final ball at the moment. Is that a tactical problem or a mental one?



“I re-watch all of our matches and I think the team was having the same old problems against Plzen. We couldn’t find any consistency or put our stamp on the match, managing it and dictating the play. That said, we played some good football at times and did the things we needed to do for some periods during the game, more so than I thought at the time. At times we’re finding it hard to produce what’s needed in a specific match.

"The most important thing is that we improve our precision when it comes to the simple things. We’re struggling to make the kind of easy passes that would allow us to manage games better. It’s almost as if they’re too easy and the players avoid playing certain passes, maybe because they think they’re boring. We need to strive to put together a whole string of passes to consolidate our position in the opposition half.”



How is Mohamed Salah feeling ahead of the game? Is he one of those players that can change the game?

“Salah is always the same. He’s the perfect guy, always smiling. Sometimes he pretends not to understand so I say something in Florentine dialect and he whips round like a shot! He understands everything and he’s really switched on. He liked Florence but he wants to perform well for Roma. I have no doubt that he’ll prove his quality on the pitch. He’s a really unpredictable player who runs at the defence with the ball between his feet – he can get out of sticky situations single-handedly when you’re expecting him to lose it. At times it’s better not to burden that type of player with too many instructions because you risk clipping his wings. He’s really good at getting in behind the defence.

"Then you have a guy like [Juan Manuel] Iturbe, for example, who needs more direction in terms of what he needs to be doing. Salah has more instinct, more talent, so he needs to be left alone a bit more. When you look for him with his back to an opponent, he usually manages to get free using his movement, but even he can still improve with the ball. He’s a reliable player.”



Do you still believe Rome is the perfect place to work?



“I haven’t changed my opinion on the team or on Roma as a place to work. I’ll change my mind at the end of the season if I have to, but for now I won’t. We have a strong team. I believe in my players and will continue to do so. I’ll continue to sow the seeds. When you sow your seeds well, sooner or later good things grow and we’ll need to pay attention to what does. I criticised Iturbe the other night, but I didn’t say I was giving up.

"I’m happy with these players from now until the end of the season. This is the squad that I wanted and I’m happy with it. I’m sticking to that. Roma is the perfect place to work. Obviously you need to build up a wave of enthusiasm to support you. Players give that little bit extra when there’s enthusiasm around the place. It’s harder to deal with doubts, tension and frustration, but that’s when you need more character, more personality. People know that but sometimes they don’t show their opposition in the right way and need to be showed how. The tensions and frustrations are there.

"We need to win – that’s the expectation, but I think there’s another way. We need to work hard and achieve milestones along the way to show that we’re going in the right direction. We need to have a way of working, of thinking, of doing that determines our future achievements.”