De Rossi's post-Genoa thoughts

Here are our boss’s thoughts...

It’s a draw from which you’ll go home unhappy…

“I wouldn’t say so. We dominated the game until after the break, when we dropped too deep. We stopped counter-attacking, but it’s no shame to drop deep and counter, given the quality we’ve got.

“We kept losing the ball when trying to build up play. We started to get things going but we made too many mistakes. We fussed around too much. This ends up giving the opposition belief, and we were up against a top team.”

That being said, we saw Roma take a step forward. In the first 45 you were camped in Genoa's half: it's really something to build on for the league.

“That’s what we were aiming for. We managed to draw them out of position, especially when we had the ball. We’ve been too direct in the past, releasing the ball too early, but today in the first half we kept hold of the ball a bit longer and our attacking midfielders drew their players out of position. We managed to get the ball to our forwards, who are the ones who’ll will decide many games for us.

“In the second half we kept the ball less, but we had some great chances in the first half, and one in the second to double our lead. That makes the difference in these stadiums.”

How do you explain the fact that Roma dropped off in the second half? What did you make of Paulo Dybala and Artem Dovbyk’s partnership?

“We dropped back because we stopped pressing and hounding them like we did in the first half. They passed the ball around a lot in the first half but we won the duels. We dropped back 20 meters, which wasn’t what I asked for, but when this happens you have to regroup - they sent many men up top meaning that we had numerical superiority up front. As a result, we could’ve pushed them back into their half by hanging onto the ball for longer. Instead, these passages of play were over quickly - they didn't do anything, they didn't create anything. I’ve looked at the numbers - we had the big chances. However, you have to see out games, and most of all if we dominate like this in the first half, I don't understand why we changed our approach in the second.”

Based on the football you’ve played, is this Roma side Champions League standard?

“I think we’re a team that has to fight to reach the Champions League. That’s our aim. Last season we achieved a sixth-place finish, and we’re starting to get bored of this. Whether or not it’s to be considered a failure if we don’t make it that far is another matter, given that we’re up against Juve, Inter, Milan, a Napoli side who aren’t in Europe and a top Atalanta team. There are many teams that can finish ahead of us or behind us - the situation is fairly balanced.

“In my opinion we did well in the transfer window, based on our aims were ahead of the season. I’m convinced that we’ll play our cards right moving forward. It’s obvious that you have to win such games, because in this stadium many teams will struggle.

“Winning such a game would count for a lot, partly because of our position in the league, which after four games isn’t that indicative, but above all for morale, because it would’ve done us a lot of good to win today.”