De Rossi: “The second half showed what I like about this team”

Here’s what Daniele De Rossi had to say about the Giallorossi’s performance.

How important was this win after struggling in the first half?

“It’s really important. It’s great to win a match that started in that way. We’re here to get results. The first half was horrible. I didn’t like it. I was worked up. Then I saw that [Dean] Huijsen got booked and I was even more worked up because it was too big a risk having an 18-year-old on a yellow card playing in a stadium that was booing him. I didn’t want to take that risk and that meant I had to use up one of our subs.

“Beyond the booking, I really didn’t like the first half. Since I’ve been here, we’ve never struggled as much as we did tonight. I’m talking from a game play perspective.

“Frosinone were superb. I know their coach and he’s excellent. He gets his teams playing well, but we can’t get eaten alive as we did in the first half. That’s what annoyed me most.”

What did you say to Huijsen when you subbed him off at the break?

“I didn’t really understand what he did to get booked, whether it was the gesture he did with his ears or his finger, or if he’d argued with someone.

“I don’t think it’s anything serious, it’s just silliness. He’s a young lad and he’ll learn. He’s my daughter’s age, born in 2005. I did silly things on the pitch so I’m not going to lecture him too much. What I can tell him is that it cost him 45 minutes in Serie A and it cost us one of our subs. It’s not a huge deal but you learn and grow from these things. He won’t do it again.”

I agree that the first half was tricky, then after the break your ideas materialised and your team changed substantially. It’s been two years since Roma have bagged two consecutive away wins. When your team started playing their game, with lots of men between the lines, your wingers coming inside,  Azmoun in that new position, you took control of the match. You have clear ideas when you’ve got the ball between your feet, but in the first half we were just watching Frosinone.

“Very true, but I created a bit of that mess in the first half by changing the team and, more than anything, by changing the players behind our striker. Up until today, we’d done well with a mezzala, and a ball-playing trequartista behind the striker. Today I played [Sardar] Azmoun, who is more of an attacking player. I think this is something that can work – having two bigger guys up top – but we’ve got to try it out. I only had a day to do it and I got it wrong. But it’s a learning curve.

“I really liked the second half, but we’ve got to look at what went well and what didn’t go so well. The second half is what I like about this team, and I think we could replicate that for the whole 90 minutes in every game, especially against teams like Frosinone, who aren’t on the same level as us.”

Do Roma have a new first-choice goalkeeper?

“We have two exceptional goalkeepers. Since day one I’ve wanted to be clear about who starts and who’s number two.

“At first it was Rui [Patricio]. Now, given how he’s been playing, I think it’s only right to give Mile [Svilar] a chance. He’s young and an asset  to the club. We really trust him and we always will, even if one day – fingers crossed this doesn’t happen – he doesn’t perform as well. You can’t make these kind of saves in every single match.”

Why did you sub off Lukaku?

“It was tactical. I didn’t like how he and Azmoun were playing together. It was also because Romelu has played so many matches this season. We need him and we need him fresh.

“I liked how Azmoun was playing so I kept him on after that horrible first half we had. It’s nothing serious, not because he was bad, it’s nothing at all. I’m the coach and I have to go with those who are doing the best on the pitch.

“He found it tough to play tonight because we had that awful first half. We didn’t have the ball much and that makes it hard for a striker.

“It’s not a question of one player otherwise I would’ve had to change all 11. When all 11 players are playing badly, it’s the coach’s fault. If a couple of them play badly, then it’s down to the players.”

That tactical move worked. Azmoun played a different game to Lukaku.

“Yes. He’s a forward that can play as a trequartista and get involved in building attacking moves. He knows how to play between the lines. My initial idea was to play [Houssem] Aouar, who’s another great player, but I saw Sardar doing well in training and I wanted to go with him.

“We need more time to make it second nature to play with two bigger forwards. It’s not Sardar’s or Romelu’s fault. We can’t do it in half a training session. I like how he played and how he kept the ball in the second half, although Frosinone slowed down a bit after the break because you can’t keep that tempo up for 90 minutes.”

How are you feeling for Thursday? It’s your first European match at the Olimpico as Roma coach.

“I’m happy to be here and to experience all of these firsts. Today was emotional because it was my first away match as coach with a full away stand. These things made me emotional when I was playing but then it became normal. Now it’s a whole new world that I’m discovering.

“These evenings make me feel good. They make me feel alive. I’ll give my all as long as I can to turn them into successful evenings.”