De Rossi: We need to look forward

The midfielder, who captained the side on Sunday afternoon, was keen to stress that the side should not throw away all their good work this season with 24 league matches still to come.

“The only thing we can do is keep working hard and look to the future,” declared De Rossi after the match. “If we take today’s match, obviously it’s not a good situation, but if we only focus on the present maybe we forget all the good things we’ve done so far this season.

"Let’s concentrate on our upcoming matches. We still have 24 matches to go this season and everything’s still to play for.”

Is this the lowest point of Rudi Garcia’s reign?

“I don’t think so. Before these last two home games we were showing we can play good football. I think our run last season, when we drew so many matches in a row and barely managed to win for three months, was more negative than this. But of course this isn’t a good spell either. We need to reflect on our performances but, as I’ve said, the only thing we can do now is focus on our upcoming games because that’s what counts right now.”

Why haven’t you been able to continue the improvement you showed a few weeks ago?

“Our last home match was the derby against Lazio, when we played well and showed fight. It’s been a strange week. I hope this defeat has nothing to do with the Barcelona result and that it hasn’t left a mark. It’s not productive to analyse the game now, in front of the cameras. We need to focus on what we can achieve in our upcoming games, get our heads down and stick together. Last year we managed to get second place by becoming even more united than we were. And that’s exactly what we have to do now.”

Who has to take the blame here, the coach or the players as well?

“No player in the world would say it's the coach's fault on television. Aside from that, I genuinely believe that Roma have played some good football under Garcia. We were doing exactly that until a few games ago. We need to improve tactically, defensively and in terms of our build-up play, but also now is the time to stay united.

"We will simply fall apart if we look for excuses or a scapegoat and we'll risk falling back into the kind of situation we had from January to March last season, which wasn't productive for anybody."

How is the pressure different compared to last year?

“We were convinced last season that the squad was extremely strong and capable of winning. As it turned out, Juventus were far better than Roma, even on the mental side of things, otherwise we wouldn't have gone through that period of drawing too often and failing to pick up wins.

"As I have said, we are doing better this year – both in terms of points and playing style, although we are conceding too often. The last two performances have been set-backs for our position in the league.”

The crowd were notable in their disapproval today. What has changed in your relationship with the fans compared to a year ago when they applauded you even after the home defeat against Bayern Munich?

“Those three or four months are still fresh in their minds of when we weren't playing well and we were concentrating on Juventus, without realising until it was almost too late that Napoli and Lazio were making a run for second place. However, we did manage to get things together for the final sprint to the end.

"So there's this and the fans are also a bit more fed up compared to a year ago. To tell you the truth, the fans supported us right until the end in Barcelona. Obviously they didn't applaud us because that would have been bizarre, but they were singing throughout the match. I am sure that those fans won't abandon us, beginning with the Torino match coming up.”