Fonseca encouraged by team's fightback

The Giallorossi drew 2-2 in their third friendly of pre-season at the Sardegna Arena, coming back from a first half deficit thanks to goals from Cengiz Under and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Here's what the boss had to say...

In the second half the team responded well…

“Yes, but I was happy with the first half performance in terms of our attacking play too – we didn’t score but we dominated the match and we created chances. In defence we made mistakes with both of the first two chances Cagliari created.

“I think the team played with character in the first half too. But in the second half the reaction was clear, and I saw positives to take.”

Based on these first few friendlies, what aspects still need to be worked on?

“We always need to keep working on improving. Right now we still have a lot of players who haven’t trained much – but I’m seeing good signs. The squad still isn’t set; there will be players leaving and others coming in.

"I spoke with the chairman and with Guido Fienga and we are all working together to try and find the best options for the team.”

It looks like Henrikh Mkhitaryan is already in mid-season form…

“He’s a very clever player, and he can play in various different positions. He’s in good form right now but we also have others who are playing well and feeling confident and that’s really important for me.”

We saw a few different tactical setups in this game – are you deciding which one is the best?

“Today we changed the system, it’s something I want to be able to do during the season as well. The team did well with that. I liked how the side looked with four at the back as well. Going forward I saw that we have confidence when we have the ball and that’s always important.”

During the week you met Dan and Ryan Friedkin: what were your impressions from that meeting?

“Really good, it’s important to have the chairman close to the team and to be watching how we work. They are really motivated, as we all are, and we are working to do the best for Roma.”