Jose Mourinho Analyzes Exciting Sassuolo Matchup

Roma manager Jose Mourinho delivered his pre-match press conference ahead of their upcoming game against Sassuolo-Roma.

The Special One spoke with the media a few days after Roma’s draw against Servette in the Europa League.

“When you’re alone, you share responsibilities, maybe that’s why I enjoy individual sports like tennis, where you need courage, personality, and another thing that I can’t say because it’s a bad word. I don’t have to make anyone responsible.”

“As a coach in a collective sport, I enjoy analyzing individual sports for their mentality. Today, I had a good conversation with the players. A positive relationship allows you to speak your mind candidly, knowing that there is love and the situation can return to normal. We are together again, heading to Sassuolo to try and secure a result in what I won’t say is a scary match. Nothing scares me in football, but it’s a difficult game for several reasons.”

“Sassuolo has good players, a good coach, and plays 40 games a season, focusing on one game at a time. Those are their strengths. However, I’m also concerned about the referee. We’ve had him as the fourth official three times and I don’t think he’s stable enough for this match.”

“Sassuolo-Roma is crucial for us as we are a few points away from fourth place, which is super important. I am also worried about the VAR. We’ve consistently had bad luck with that referee and then we have an opponent in front of us, Berardi. He is a fantastic player, but he needs to show more respect for the game and opponents. What he does is excessive.”

“As a team, we must face our current situation. It would give me more adrenaline to play with a team fighting relegation than to be in a calm situation. I’ve told the guys that we need to be less superficial. I won the league title with Real Madrid with 100 points and lost with 93. It’s hard having to win every game.”

“We need to bring out something more, but not just from the usual players. We don’t have the potential to compete against Juve and Inter. However, we can strive to secure fourth place.”

“We need to raise the bar, and that is my goal. We need to take action and work harder. I work more with those who don’t play than with those who do. We need to move forward and see if we can improve.”

“I know our situation, and we are underestimated in everything we have done. Ownership, club, staff, and everyone. We are fighting against teams with different potential, but with a full team and no injuries, we can compete for top four.”

“Without Smalling, every match becomes tough. If he doesn’t return until the end of the year, he will have missed 68 training sessions. It will take time to recover. We’ve had to adapt with Kumbulla warming up but then staying on the sidelines.”

“Right now, I’m feeling more positive than before. We need to move forward and focus on the next game. If Mancini gets a yellow card with Berardi after 10 minutes, he won’t play in the next match, but let’s move on from that.”