Spalletti: These are two points dropped

Luciano Spalletti bemoaned "two points lost" after his Roma side were held to a 1-1 draw with Atalanta on Saturday.

The Giallorossi came back from an early 1-0 deficit thanks to Edin Dzeko's 50th minute equaliser - but despite a stirring finish at the Stadio Olimpico they were agonisingly unable to grab a winner.

Spalletti acknowledged the draw was disappointing - pinpointing a slow first half as the culprit.

"We moved the ball too slowly in the first half and had too little touches, shuffling it around the pitch without any quick or probing moves," Luciano Spalletti said after the game. "However, we improved in this respect in the second half and the team deserved more.

"We play right until the end of games, but these are two points dropped; you should be beating these teams at home."

Spalletti, while insisting that he still believed his side, acknowledged that results in recent weeks would have to be assessed.

"If I need to say something to the team, I won’t do it on television," he added. "We have got great potential and we showed it in the second half. Every now and again, we go into our shells and become overwhelmed by doubt, which is what happened in the first half.

"We lose our structure and shape. We could have managed the game better. We’ve got top-quality players here. We’ll see what the result is at the end of the season.

"It’s not the time to throw the toys out of the pram, nor is it a great situation because we’ve been gone out of two cups. If you have the quality, ultimately someone has to take responsibility."