Roma fell to to Udinese 1-0 today, with De Paul scoring the winning goal at Dacia Arena. This is a defeat that will weigh on the giallorossi, as they showed lapses in concentration prior to their upcoming match in Champions League. Despite a strong showing from Eusebio Di Francesco's squad, the team was unable to take advantage. The manager spoke to Sky Sport after the match.
"Our presentation was not missing. What was missing was our determination and the desire to win. I don't know if this is a question on our character or in general, but we cannot allow ourselves to have the match in hand for 60' and then give a goal from a throw-in. Our squad expressed themselves well in the style of play, but we weren't able to do anything in the final 20 meters and that made the difference. These matches are determined by a few episodes, we were never great at bringing them into our direction. It's right to judge the results, but I cannot say that we did not put Udinese on the ropes today. In any case, we are still behind and it's useless to search for excuses. Before allowing the goal, a great squad must score, because we created too many chances. I'm angry because I expected a team that would bring three points home. It's good that we dominated, but today's match shows that you need to have the fight to win because dominating a match doesn't mean you win it."
"To become great you see that we still lack adequate growth, but we're working on it. It's unfortunate. I saw many interesting things, but it's the particulars that make the difference. This is a result that angers me, because we showed the team we could be by having an identity, but not bringing points home becomes hard."
Di Francesco closed by excluding the possibility of having concentration lapses due to their upcoming Champions League match against Real Madrid, who lost their La Liga match today against Elbar: "For me no. This was the more important game, I said it and I believed it. In fact, I'm very angry. I saw Real, there was not a match and you cannot compare it to our presentation. At the end we lost as well and this means that we need to work in a different way."
