Mourinho: Trabzonspor are a quality side with plenty of threats

Jose Mourinho faced the media in Trabzon on Wednesday night, on the eve of his first official game as Roma boss.

The Giallorossi face Trabzonspor in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League play-off tie on Thursday night - with only one of the two sides progressing to the group stages of the new European competitive.

Here's what Mourinho had to say ahead of the contest...

How are you feeling ahead of your first competitive game?

“To be completely honest, this game really doesn’t feel like a play-off game for the Europa Conference League. When the Conference League was first introduced as an idea it seemed like it was not going to include top clubs. But this seems like a Europa League or even a Champions League match.

"Roma and Trabzonsport have both been playing in the Champions League in recent years. It is a shame that next week one of the two teams will be out of the competition. They are both quality sides.”

You have trained some great strikers in your time. Can Tammy Abraham, Borja Mayoral and Eldor Shomurodov become great strikers like Karim Benzema, Didier Drogba and others you have coached?

“Making comparisons is always risky and dangerous. It puts extra pressure on the players. Our forwards are different to those ones you mention, but they are good players. They can play up front together too.

“I won’t hide the fact that I was happy when we signed Shomurodov. Then, when there started to be talk about Dzeko leaving … it wasn’t that I was fearful, but there was certainly a bit of concern there. But then Tiago [Pinto, the General Manager] and the club resolved that situation in a great manner.

"Tammy has won everything at Chelsea, he’s a young player with vast potential. Our three forwards don’t have the same amount of experience as players at other clubs like Ibrahimovic and Giroud, but we have full confidence in these three players.”

Chris Smalling misses this game through injury – will Marash Kumbulla or Roger Ibanez replace him?

“I can tell you because the players themselves already know; I don’t like it when other people know things before the players do. That’s not going to happen with me. Ibanez and Gianluca Mancini will start the game.

“The situation with Chris is this: he has played and trained throughout the entire pre-season, from the first day until the day before yesterday. He’s worked hard, full of confidence, and then in the last game against Raja Club he twisted something in the minute before he was due to come off and felt a twinge.

“We are working together on our injury prevention methods. The team has had a tough injury record in recent seasons and we are trying to address that. There are things that we can improve, by working together: the coach, the fitness staff and the players. We are all willing to do that invisible work that we are putting in. We all think that could bring positive results for us.

“In terms of Chris’s problem, perhaps there is a bit of déjà vu after last season – but I can only say that he has been training really well. I trust in him in terms of being one of the pillars of our season. He won’t play tomorrow, and maybe not on Sunday either, but his injury is not too serious.”

Your task is to build a winning mentality. Have you seen any changes in that regard? What has struck you most?

“What has struck me most is the desire to work hard and to improve from all the guys. And when I say guys, I’m not just talking about the players, but about all of those who are working within all the departments of the club. The players feed on that, they can sense that around them there are people who are working hard and with professionalism. And that makes it easier to understand the right path to take.

“To give you an example that perhaps won’t mean a lot to many, but certainly means a lot to me – after the game tomorrow we won’t go home, we will stay at Trigoria [after landing] because we need to rest, we will get there at 4 in the morning. It could be another hour lost by driving home then, and then driving back in the morning.

“These are the sort of sacrifices you need to make if you want to build a professional attitude. And it has really struck me how willing everyone is to embrace that. But I can give a thousand examples of how willing people are.

"‘Time’ was always a key word we used when I first started speaking with the ownership. And it is a word we will keep using up until we are a club with the highest possible professional standards.

“Sometimes teams can win something once and then that's it. The ownership don’t want that, they want to build something. ‘Time’ and ‘philosophy’ are the most important elements right now. But at the same time, evolution without results is difficult for fans to understand - and it is difficult for someone like me to accept too.

"But time will always be an element of our work, but we we want to do well all the same. We want to improve and get results. If you [journalists] tell me down the line that results haven’t improved, I will be really frustrated. I think there is room to improve the club and at the same time the results it has achieved in recent years.”

What do you make of Trabzonspor?

“First and foremost you can see the history of the club, you can see what they have done in Turkish football and the things they have achieved in Europe too. After that, you can look at the squad itself. The game I watched I saw a well-organised side, and whenever I see a well-organised side that means the coach is really good.

“They have experienced players; unlike us they base the quality they have on the experience of a number of their players. But we have two games to play, one tomorrow and one next Thursday. We will do everything to win, not just overall but in both of those games.

"Our approach tomorrow can’t be that there is always the game at the Olimpico to resolve things. We want to win tomorrow too: albeit with total respect for a team that has quality and experience.”

What have you made of Trabzonspor’s recent results, and players they have like Marek Hamsik, Gervinho and Bruno Peres?

“Everyone here knows Bruno Peres really well, they know his quality and his professionalism. He can play in a few different positions and that’s a real added value for them. Gervinho and Hamsik don’t seem like they are 34 – it seems like their passports are wrong, they still play like kids.

“Gervinho plays with freedom and knows how to express his individual quality. Hamsik is vital for them in midfield, he can be dangerous and be one to manage the flow of the game for them. They are important players – but they have others as well. It’s a good team. But that’s great, no-one can say that the Conference League is easy.”

It will be your first competitive game as Roma boss. Is there one Trabzonspor player that particularly worries you?

“It’s always difficult with games like this. The only doubt I have about their team selection really is whether [Andreas] Cornelius will start or not. If he doesn’t play, then we know how they will set out and how they will try to play.

“But they have quality not just in attack, but defence too. Vitor Hugo and Edgar are good on the ball, they aren’t just defenders. The full-backs, the goalkeeper … it’s a well-balanced side that will be trying to do well this season. We can’t focus on one player, we have to focus on the whole team.”