Mourinho upset with pitch conditions in Lecce draw

Jose Mourinho sounded upset with the pitch conditions in tonight’s draw with Lecce. The Portuguese manager praised his players despite the underwhelming result.

“It was a difficult, tough game. Obviously it shows in our attitude that it is not the result we wanted. Very tough, intense match,” he told DAZN after the final whistle.


“We played on a horrible pitch tonight. It’s difficult to play quality football when you’re playing in such terrible conditions. We had the possibility of scoring the second goal.”

“Tonight I don’t feel like saying anything negative to my players. It’s not the result we wanted, but it’s still a point, it keeps us alive.”

“Abraham played well tonight. Falcone made excellent saves, Abraham built chances for himself. These are matches in which you don’t have 10 scoring opportunities, but 3-4 and you have to score. When Lecce recover the ball you hear a click in the transition, they are aggressive in the counterattack. I expected it to be difficult. I’m not upset with my players.”

“I was happy to hear some of the things players said in the dressing room: they were angry at the result, it’s not what they wanted. And I think that says a lot about us, it’s fantastic to see the mentality change in the team. 2-3 years for Roma would have been lost, now we have the right mentality.”

“Gini [Wijnaldum] lacks intensity, but Belotti is finally getting to the point where his physical conditions allows him to be useful to the team. Now we’ll need everybody to contribute: we’re going to play in the Europa League too and it’s going to be difficult.”