Mourinho: Roma is different from the projects I've coached, and it's hard, but I'm happy

On December 12, 2021, at 3:45 a.m. Beijing time, Roma will host Spezia in the 17th round of Serie A, and Roma coach Jose Mourinho attended the press conference before the game.

Spezia's head coach is your former disciple Thiago Motta, what do you remember about him?

People thought I only met Thiago during inter's treble, but in fact I met him when I was working at Barcelona. The team sometimes let me go to the youth echelon to lead training sessions, when Thiago was in The Barça B team, and I had good memories between me and him.

Nowadays, many of my former disciples have embarked on the difficult path of coaching, such as Stankovich and Zivo, and I miss them very much (sono preoccupato per loro). Tomorrow's game will be different, although I have a lot of feelings for Thiago, but we are opponents on the field, but I will greet him before the game starts.

Will you line up again tomorrow from the forward combination of Tammy Tammy Abraham and Mayoral?

Borja + Tammy played well against Sofia, we will be missing Zagnolo, Pellegrini, Salavi and Carles Perez tomorrow, so pairing them together is a potential option, but Felix and Shomurodov are also likely to play, and we have a lot of room for choice.

I'm happy for Borja to score because for the striker it's not enough to perform well, the stats are important, including Tammy, who scored again, which builds the confidence of the striker players.

How will Abraham's style of play change when paired with different strikers?

Shomurodov has a larger range of motion and is more able to provide depth and impact; Mayoral is more dangerous in the restricted area. But Tammy's style of play will basically not change, whether it is playing as a single striker or a double striker, he has not changed the way he plays, he has his own style.

If you continue to play in a three-back formation, will There be a replacement for Karlsdorp and Vigna?

It's really difficult, but at the moment we're missing too many players and it's hard to guarantee the style of play of the four, because Zagnolo, Cales Perez and Sharawi are not there, and while Shomurodov can also play on the wing, it's not the best position for him.

We don't have many people to choose from right now, and if we play at three backs, There are no substitutes for Vigna and Karsdorp.

Is Roma's preferred choice for a winter transfer still the midfielder? Or are there other places that need to be reinforced?

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify: I am not disappointed with the summer transfer at Roma, because at that time we needed to make up for our own problems, it is not that the club does not want to sign a midfielder as I asked, we did not have a conflict over this matter, the theme of the summer transfer is to fill in the gaps. (Left-backs and centre-forwards suddenly need reinforcements, disrupting plans))

I do regret that because I always want to have the best squad to play, but to be honest, I understand from the beginning that the team has difficulties and if we can do something in January, we will try to figure it out, but it is not a huge investment, not as much as in the summer.

Where do you think you need reinforcements most in January?

If we decide to reinforce, it's also to make the squad more balanced, I, the boss and the director are on the same front, there is no difference of opinion, we have to agree between "ideas" and "possibilities", and the gap that the squad needs to fill is where we think there are "limitations".

When you look at Roma's current squad, you get a little scared: because there are so many players out, we're missing people like Spinazzolla, Pellegrini, Cales Perez and Sharawi, we have two or three positions to strengthen, and there are three games before January and we are trying to get more points.

You've said before that you don't like playing in a five-back formation...

I don't like fives, but I don't mind playing three, I want to send offensive players on the flanks while taking care of the defensive end, I really don't like to play five.

So is Roma's current three-back system still a temporary solution? Or is it possible to become a decisive tactical change?

I like tactical culture, and time will help you build a tactical culture, but I like to just choose the tactics that are right for the players on the one hand. I'm willing to do my best to dig into the best of the players, if there is the right player, I don't mind playing in a three-back formation, in fact a lot of strong teams in Serie A are playing three-back or five-back, and I have no prejudice against this formation.

I'm sorry that there have been a lot of emergencies in the team over the last six months that we don't have time to build the team and provide stability for that, and every week we have to adapt to the financial situation that the team is experiencing, and I hope that Roma will never have injuries and suspensions, but at the moment we are forced to make changes every week, trying new personnel every week, so we can't lay a solid foundation for this growth path.

But despite the difficulties, we don't have to cry, we have three games to play before the winter break, and then players such as Calles Perez, Sharavi and Pellegrini will return in January.

Felix's new crown is cloudy, can he be on the list?

Yes, he trained with the team for three days and was eligible for the roster.

How do you think Roma's second team should improve in terms of mentality?

Depending on what you call the "second team" category, if you're referring to young and inexperienced players, all you can do is keep working hard and be patient, and some of the problems stem from sloppiness and inexperience. But if it's experienced players sitting on the bench, that's a different story, because everyone aspires to be a starter and no one wants to sit on the bench.

Against Inter, we had 8 under-21 players on the bench, all of whom played in the youth squad last year, and the youth league is a very low league in my opinion, these players are not ready for Serie A, the level of the Italian youth league is not comparable to other European leagues, let alone France and Portugal, etc., so the young players need to improve, such as Darbo's mistake against CSKA Sofia, it is not that he is not good enough, but the typical lack of experience.

I also wish I could be like Little Inzaghi and see Joaquin Correa, Vidal and Damian sitting on the bench, but it's a different reality. I'm not criticizing anybody, I love what I'm doing now, but it's really a different way of working, and for young players, all you can do is accept that they keep making mistakes as they grow up and wait for them to mature.

I want to clarify again, obviously I want to fight for other goals as well, but I am very happy to be able to come to Rome myself, this project is different from the one I have accepted in my past career, although it was difficult, I am still happy to be able to accept the challenge.

Roma players have received a lot of yellow cards, what explanation can you give for this?

I think it's best to talk about another technical statistic: we're the team with the most shots in Serie A, and it's good to talk about this, at least I didn't say anything I shouldn't have said.