Mourinho: “A strong start and a deserved win”

Here's what Jose Mourinho had to say after the match...

Why are you so happy?

“Happy Christmas everyone. Unfortunately the last match before Christmas always affects the sort of Christmas the players and the coach have. That's why we're so happy. It's something we spoke about before the game: about our Christmas and the fans' Christmas.

“We managed to win and get closer to the position we want to be in, despite the heavy legs after all the big games we've had. These three points leave us sitting high.

"You might not agree but I had a feeling we were going to win after five or ten minutes. We started really strong and did well when it was 11 v 11. We had two incredible opportunities in the first half and were always in control against a team that is superior to us technically. It was an excellent performance.

“When they went down to ten men, we had an advantage and we made the most of it, with the changes we made and the way we played. The lads deserved the win.”

Can we say that alongside Bryan Cristante and Leo Paredes, who have very particular skill sets, Roma's third midfielder should be a footballer like Edoardo Bove who plays with aggression and intensity?

“Today our strategy was to win possession high up the pitch. And to do that, we needed those two and also Bove, because he chases and harries, and he switched from pressing [Stanislav] Lobotka to dropping back in the 5-3-2. He's tremendously fit. He's not the fastest but he has incredible stamina. We decided to go with [Andrea] Belotti and Romelu [Lukaku] to make it more of a physical battle with Napoli's centre-backs, to play more directly and penetrate deeper.

“When the goal opened up for us, playing 11 v 11, that's where our creativity came into it. Lorenzo is creative, [Stephan] El Shaarawy is creative and pacy, and [Sardar] Azmoun is much more technical than Belotti.

“I'm really happy with the team's performance. After a week of hard work, with a coach being very harsh on them, we were able to go out there with better prepared defenders. [Evan] Ndicka won more duels. [Diego] Llorente struggled against [Joshua] Zirkzee but today he won lots of duels against a world-class striker in [Victor] Osimhen, beating him to the ball and pressing him well. [Gianluca] Mancini is a hero because he trained all week. It's tough with a groin problem but he played for the team. It's an excellent win.”

Photo credit: Fabio Rossi

Were you given a target at the start of the season? Did they say to you, 'We want to get into the Champions League'?

“I prefer to take things one at a time for one very simple reason and this is not to blame anyone; it's not a criticism but we have a group of players with complicated injury histories. If we had everyone available for every game I'd have no problems coming out and saying that we can fight with everyone – not for the title but for the top four.

“Unfortunately we do have these difficulties and on top of that we have Financial Fair Play restrictions, which isn't an easy situation to manage. That's why I prefer not to set any specific targets. But we're united. We have a bunch of smashing lads who always try to turn weaknesses into strengths and to help each other. Today Mancini was an example of what we need to do if we are to have as many options as possible.

“We'll see. We can't do what we wanted to do in the January transfer window. What we want to do is one thing and what we can do is another. But we'll push on. Today we beat Napoli and now we'll take on your Juve [speaking to DAZN pundit and former Bianconeri player Ciro Ferrara].”

Do you think you can achieve the target? There are other teams like Bologna and Fiorentina who are flying.

“They're flying for two reasons: they have great coaches and fantastic squads with two players for every position.”

Are Roma inferior?

“Without [Chris] Smalling, without Renato [Sanches], without [Paulo] Dybala, we don't have an excellent squad. With those three, we do. We also have a good coach.”