Roma boss Daniele De Rossi was asked about his sudden change of formation and his switch to a 3-5-2 model in last night’s win over Torino.
In his post-match presser, De Rossi said, “When you are a coach you have to make choices before the match and analyze if they were positive. The main assessment was that I wanted Smalling to play at all costs.”
“Torino play with a lot of physicality and it gave me more peace of mind to put him in the middle with two boys covering his flanks, then it was a more conservative choice because I imagined that we could suffer, they press very hard.”
“Starting in a more prudent manner after our cup matches could have kept the game alive, in the second half we improved compared to the first half.”
“Smalling was meant to give us more defensive backbone against a tough opponent,” he added.
“Mancio and Smalling played well, they play man to man in the pressing phase, they are physically strong and very attentive in man to man, I asked the defenders to distribute the ball and create superiority.”
