Roma boss Paulo Fonseca held his usual pre match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s away fixture against Lecce. Here’s what the Giallorossi’s Portuguese boss had to say:
The first defeat came against Atalanta. Have you talked to the guys about the possible fallout after last Wednesday’s game?
Yes, certainly, as we always do. We analysed things with the players and made them understand what did not work well and what we need to improve.
Will Zaniolo play?
We will see tomorrow if he will play or not. I talked to him like everyone else after the match against Atalanta.
A convincing debut for Smalling, but before Atalanta he hadn’t played an official match for four months. Are you able to support three matches in a week?
We will see tomorrow, it was his first game, but Fazio has played every single match to date so let’s see tomorrow.
In retrospect, would you still do the three-man defense against Atalanta?
The problem was not the formation, to which we often give too much importance. What matters are the dynamics of the team, the formation can change but the attacking dynamics remain module. Against Atalanta, Roma had difficulty creating things in the attacking phase.
Could the central midfielders also be involved in rotation tomorrow?
I will not say tomorrow’s formation, I will change something in all areas.
How are Pellegrini and Spinazzola?
Both are available and will be called, they are in excellent condition.
Zaniolo gets booked too often. Have you spoken to him about this?
We haven’t talked about it.
What impressions did you have on the second goal conceded against Atalanta?
We broke it down. We could have done something different — it was a drop in concentration from everyone. It’s unacceptable, especially when the score is 1-0 and time is still left.
