Claudio Ranieri speaks after Napoli 1-0 Roma

Here’s what the boss had to say…

Roma were defensively resolute, then a positioning error by Angelino led to Lukaku's goal. Dovbyk responded by hitting the bar, Tommaso Baldanzi had a chance and the team ended strongly. What are your thoughts on the match?

“If we rewind a bit, Roma were in a tight spot, and that’s why I got the job. We were facing a team that had just been knocked off top spot and who are fighting to win the league. With this in mind I’m happy with the performance of my players.

“As for the mistake we made, we made others as well and we’ll discuss them over the course of the week with the players. However, the desire and the determination to want to get back on track in this league was evident. We must keep this going. There’s a lot of work to do, but I’m feeling positive.”

What was the reasoning behind the change of system at half-time?

“We wanted more of the ball, and in fact in the second half we had more of it than they did. They didn’t have chances that perhaps they had had in the first half, when we didn't always cover the space well. Sometimes [Romelu] Lukaku found himself free between the two centre-backs, and sometimes when he was between two of our players [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia was all on his own. Fortunately [Stephan] El Shaarawy went to close the move down, but for the time before he’d headed it and put it out (at the start of the match, ed.). I tried to shore things up at the back, saying to my players, “Let’s move the ball around and then go on the attack.”

What can you tell us about Paulo Dybala? Can his situation be solved?

“I risked him because I said to myself: either it works or it doesn’t. There were ten minutes left and he’s capable of pulling a rabbit out of a hat in any moment. We’re all aware of that. I was afraid of risking him, but he hadn’t felt any physical issues since yesterday and so I told him, “Get involved, but be careful and let’s see what we can do.” He finished the game and had a brief training session after. So, I think he should be fine for the coming week and let’s see if he’ll be able to feature in London against Tottenham [Hotspur].”

Are you worried about the fact that your big players, who should be helping you to understand what’s going wrong, are going through a tough patch? What work are you doing with them? They’ll need to step up to the plate, especially for upholding values to pass onto youngsters.

“Indeed, they must show the right character and use their resolve to try to help themselves first and then the others.

“This Roma side were a bit timid when I joined – which is to be expected – and I tried to restore calm, to get back a desire to play football, to be bold, to move the ball around. In the second half we passed a lot more, whereas in the first 45 minutes Napoli saw more of the ball, despite not having any big chances. We had that header from [Artem] Dovbyk and the volley from [Tommaso] Baldanzi.

“I know that I have to work, the players know it and we mustn't cry over it. We need to know how to react.”