Coach Luciano Spalletti explains his philosophy to improve Roma next year. “You must think of the team as a whole, not split it up.”

The Giallorossi will again mount an assault on the Juventus stronghold next year, although the Coach had the opportunity of tasting the only defeat under his tenure this year precisely when he faced the Old Lady.

Coach Luciano Spalletti explains his philosophy to improve Roma next year. “You must think of the team as a whole, not split it up.”

The Giallorossi will again mount an assault on the Juventus stronghold next year, although the Coach had the opportunity of tasting the only defeat under his tenure this year precisely when he faced the Old Lady.

“We realised a few things about ourselves,” Spalletti told ASRoma.com. “I put fear into the team going into that contest in Turin because I spoke too much about focus, holding certain positions and being a team in just one sense.

“Nevertheless, the players showed me against Juve that they were prepared to do the things I was asking of them, even if what I had asked on that particular occasion was wrong, seeing how the game ended up.

“As a result, I modified a few things in my instructions and in every game from then on we saw that we could dare more, demand more and go harder. The players at this club have even greater potential than what we’ve seen so far.

“Unfortunately the season came to an end but everything the players have achieved we can carry with us going forward. The second half of this season will stay with the lads, it’s theirs and it’s not going to be taken away from them during the break.

“During these months, the players rediscovered their true abilities, got satisfaction from their work and found enthusiasm, bags of goals and good play — everything that is positive from a football match.

“These memories belong to them and they won’t be easy to forget. It’s clear that this is what they wanted and what they were looking for. I’m dealing with some intelligent people here.”

Spalletti was then asked whether any game was particularly memorable for him and representative of his personal football style.

“There were more than one because we had games in which we bossed the play from start to finish, those in which we had to change tack and others where we were able to withstand the pressure and take home the win.

“Every time we stepped onto the pitch was fundamental in terms of reaching the standard of performance and team unity which made the difference over the long term.

“If I absolutely have to pick out one game from all of them, I’d say the derby, which is always a special match here, partly because everyone is waiting for that game as further proof of the team’s quality.

“I must say, however, that the Sassuolo match was important too. We took the lead early on that day but then we had to deal with being a man down and suffering a few injuries, but we still took home three vital points.

“I’d also like to mention the win against Napoli at the Olimpico when we lost two of the four players who started in defence , both of whom were vital for our defensive solidity as a team , yet nevertheless we won.”

The 57-year-old then went on to discuss which aspects of the team still have margins for improvement.

“You always have to start from the premise that everything can be improved, because you always need the courage to keep going further. It’s not awareness which is the important thing but action.

“For this reason, you always have to have increasingly big targets to aim for, otherwise you can stagnate and that’s not good at all. You can always discover new things in the world.

“For example we have just been to Dubai where we saw things that we didn’t believe could exist. You don’t believe in them until you see them with your very own eyes. This is the sense behind what I’m saying and it’s for this reason that we have to focus on making progress, because the future holds even more new discoveries.

“Thinking in terms of areas of the team, you shouldn’t specify what can be improved because the team as a whole is where improvements need to be made. Obviously, if you look at the statistics you might say that the defence can be improved.

“However, if you improve there, since the team is a complex and inter-connected mechanism you’ll surely take away some of the contributions that the defenders gave in attack. That they have contributed in attack this season is obvious, the numbers are there for all to see.

“Summing everything up, I’d say that you always have to find balance in the team. I don’t like it when the papers are prone to breaking the team up into parts. For me, the team is a one, large whole and all the players are part of it.”

Finally, Spalletti went over the question of team spirit, which he considers essential for success.

“This attitude is fundamental for me and it’s incredibly important. You try to specifically reach this objective and this is the starting point for achieving big things. The way you go about your work on a day-to-day basis is actually what makes the difference.

“If you take a look at whether the players’ attitude has been appreciated by those outside, then I’d say that it hasn’t been underlined sufficiently but this doesn’t interest me that much.

“I know that this is the right path to bring success to Roma as a single squad in which all the players are assessed in a correct and equal way. This is the right way because those on the outside who want to make too much out of something are ready to praise one situation but at the same time knock another.

“This is not the way to finding the collective strength that means we can go and compete in the right manner against giants like Juventus, Inter, Milan and Napoli.

“A message for the fans? I can tell them just one thing: We felt strong throughout the season but invincible against Chievo when they came en masse.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector