ITALY/ ROMA, Zeman: "De Rossi didn’t play as a regista"

© foto di Marco Iorio/Image Sport

Here the words of As Roma coach, Zdenek Zeman, for the clash against Parma.

GROWTH
I don’t believe that our growth process was wiped out with Sunday night’s defeat. We played good football against both Bologna and Udinese. Unfortunately we paid for careless errors. Is our game predictable? After the first half hour we could have been up 4-0, so it doesn’t seem to me that our game was so predictable. Are we only holding out physically for the first 30 minutes? I don’t believe so. In Genoa we came back in the second half.
REGISTA
I still haven’t decided who will replace Tachtsidis in front of the defence. De Rossi didn’t play as a regista in the past seasons – Pizarro covered that role – and last year he also played as a central defender. Daniele has played for eight years as a right-sided midfielder, so he shouldn’t have any problems playing this role now. I never said that De Rossi couldn’t play as a regista; my thoughts are that it’s not his natural role. He’s only played a few times in that position and always in an emergency. The same goes for Pjanic, who has never played that role.
SQUAD
I’m happy with the squad. Everyone can turn out to be useful and find his place. And then things always depend on the times in which the players are called up. I don’t like this game of letting go of players who don’t play. If that’s the way we think then we’ll end up with only eleven players. The negative judgment towards my players? It always depends on the moment. If the team wins the players are serious, and if they lose they’re all spoilt and lazy. I don’t see it that way. Is the group united? We have many foreign players and integrating them takes time, as it happens in every team.
CHOICES
Nico Lopez? It is always a question of choices, and we can only field eleven players. Now you’re all happy with Lamela’s form, as I am. I work for Roma, not against Roma, and I have no need to change. Dodô? He’s not at 100%, but he showed some lovely things on Sunday evening. Now he has to find consistency. Are there too many players in question? They need to climb the ranks based on what they do on the pitch and what the team needs. I always try to use the players I can rely upon most, week in and week out. And then the hierarchies can always change depending on physical and mental states. This is a normal process since there’s competition in every team.
ARMERO V TACHTSIDIS
Did I see the incident? Yes, Armero spat at Tachtsidis. Oddly on TV they showed the replay of the time that he spat at the ground, which had nothing to do with it.
PARMA
They’re playing well, but in Turin they let in a goal and then recovered. Amauri has started scoring again and is always a threat. I believe Donadoni is doing excellent work with a team that isn’t ranked the highest yet manages to play attractive football.
RESULTS
Unfortunately we threw away six points in the games against Bologna and Udinese at the Stadio Olimpico. We’d be sitting much better in the standings if we had those points. In my opinion we put in some good performances, but unfortunately we couldn’t keep them up over 90 minutes. Most of all in those two games I mentioned we made several mistakes that influenced the result. We need to improve in this sense and find consistency and focus for the full 90 minutes of play.
DESTRO AND FLORENZI
I believe Destro is an important player for us, but the problem is that you play with 11 men and I field 3 forwards up top, which some say are too many. Right now Osvaldo, Totti and Lamela give me a certain sense of trust, which is why I chose them. But I repeat, Destro is an important player. We’ll need him and he’ll do well with us. How is Florenzi doing? He picked up a knock in training, but he’s been called up to the squad.
OBJECTIVES
Do I still believe in third place? Yes, of course. As far as our performances are concerned I think we’ve showed we can compete with anyone, although unfortunately not over the full 90 minutes yet. This is what has always happened, except in Turin.
IDEAS
I think a coach has to have some personal ideas and introduce them or try to carry them out by way of his players. I’m open to discussing them. But I also believe in my ideas, and until someone convinces me otherwise I’ll continue down my own path.
TACTICAL CHANGE FROM THE PAST
Tactically this year we’re trying to play a different kind of football compared to what the team played last year, so it’s normal that these kinds of changes take time to be fully digested. From this point of view we have to improve most of all in defence. In fact, the 4 defenders still aren’t moving together in harmony as a close-knit group that plays together. This isn’t easy, and we also have to consider that often the four defenders in question are new players who showed up this year, so they’re taking to the pitch for the first time together.
ERRORS
There were some lapses in concentration and we paid dearly for them. Who’s responsible for them? I’m the coach and it’s normal for me to speak up first, although they are often individual rather than team mistakes. But I repeat, we have to improve our concentration, in addition to the consistency of our performances.