James Pallotta spoke to Roma Radio to clarify he was “not criticising” Luciano Spalletti and Walter Sabatini, but made not dissimilar points.
The President caused a shockwave in Rome after his comments to SiriusXM FC aimed broadsides at the Coach and former director of sport.
James Pallotta spoke to Roma Radio to clarify he was “not criticising” Luciano Spalletti and Walter Sabatini, but made not dissimilar points.
The President caused a shockwave in Rome after his comments to SiriusXM FC aimed broadsides at the Coach and former director of sport.
“It’s very interesting to see how words get taken completely out of context. I think Donald Trump would have a blast with some of the radio stations in Rome, as it seems to me that’s where ‘fake news’ was invented,” Pallotta told Roma Radio, the official station of the club.
“Let’s be clear here, if you look at part of the last game, the team in the last 5-10 minutes looked tired. That’s not a reflection of training or the Coach. First of all, I’d never criticise Luciano in public. That just doesn’t happen. If I have any conversations with Luciano, they are in private between me and him.
“The team obviously had a lot of big games in a row and sometimes in those games there’s a lot of nervous energy and adrenaline, for a period it’s just game after game after game. We’ve had a very rough stretch, the guys are clearly in shape, but these things happen.
“It’s not criticism, it’s a fact. In a season there are going to be lulls. You can see it’s not a mental issue and of course I think they’ll bounce back, as I have full belief in them.
“At times you don’t have a full contingent. Lyon are known to be an attacking team, so maybe Rudiger could play ahead of that game and rest someone else.
“People making this **** up every week is just tiring. I’d need a whole radio show every week just to clear things up.”
Antonio Rudiger was suspended for the first leg of their Europa League trip to Olympique Lyonnais, losing 4-2 with two late goals after leading 2-1 at half-time.
“Anything can happen in the second leg, I never even thought of that being not a possibility, as that’s crazy to think we couldn’t turn it around. I saw Barcelona the other day and nobody gave them a chance in hell of fighting back to eliminate Paris Saint-Germain.”
Pallotta criticised the transfer strategy in his American interview, noting: "We didn't make the right choices on who to keep and who not to keep." So how was that not a criticism of former director Sabatini?
“Again, transfer markets are not easy, by any means. You can’t just pick up a phone, say ‘I want you’ and it’s done. Walter Sabatini did a great job for four plus years, we can’t criticise how hard he worked and what he tried to do.
“Whether it’s credit or blame for the transfer market, Walter didn’t work in a vacuum. Decisions were made in a small group and if mistakes were made, they are to be spread over that group. At the same time, credit is to be spread over the group.
“What we want to do, and I think the last couple of years we’ve been putting this in place, is to have a great youth system. If you look at the youth academy today, we have a tremendous amount of talent, we’ve revamped our scouting and Walter was a big part of that over the last couple of years with a few other people.
“My comments are to do with the fact we have some great youth, I hate seeing them loaned out and one of the frustrations is there are so many times we loan players out to get experience and many times they are not getting playing time and are better than many other players who do get to play.
“There is this fine line between experience and youth and that’s not easy to get right. As you get older, it’s not as easy to bounce back from game to game, muscle injuries might be more frequent and recovery time takes longer. This is not criticism, we are always trying to find the right balance.
“Florenzi is like the Energizer Rabbit. I don’t think many people realise how much we got hurt by not having Florenzi. He can’t just play right-back, right wing and midfield, he can play in any position and never seems to get tired.
“When you lose players who are that important to the team, I think Luciano did a very good job when dealing with this situation.
“I didn’t know it was Florenzi’s birthday today. Jeez, 26, I didn’t know he was that old! He’s had a frustrating year, I miss that smile and that talkiness. We want him back as soon as possible.”