Zdenek Zeman is happy to return to his old club Pescara, “albeit as an ‘enemy’” and insists he is happy with Roma’s performance this season.
Zdenek Zeman is happy to return to his old club Pescara, “albeit as an ‘enemy’” and insists he is happy with Roma’s performance this season.
The Coach took Pescara to promotion from Serie B last season, but quit when he received a proposal from the Giallorossi.
“I am happy to return to Pescara, albeit as an ‘enemy.’ I have more than positive memories here and those go beyond the sporting results. We’ll have to see how I am welcomed… I always say Roma have the best fans, but Pescara are close,” he said in his Press conference.
The Delfini will be making their debut tomorrow under new tactician Cristiano Bergodi after Giovanni Stroppa resigned.
“In my view Pescara can still achieve safety. I hope the change of management helps them, just not from tomorrow… I worked with Bergodi as a player. He is a serious and calm individual who had great results in Romania with Cluj.
“Don’t forget last season people said Pescara would be fighting to avoid relegation into Lega Pro, but instead we won the League with more than 90 goals scored. They changed a lot over the summer, which is why they still haven’t found their tactical identity, but I am still worried to be facing them.”
Roma are in a similar position, as Zeman’s influence has seen them veer wildly from great to comical, sometimes within the same match.
“I am happy with the performances, but not the results. Apart from the game with Juventus, the team always played better than their opponents. Results went against us because of our own mistakes. Our best performance was against Milan, even if we lost.”
Erik Lamela and Maarten Stekelenburg are injured, Daniele De Rossi banned and Leandro Castan carrying a muscular problem.
“I will decide my line-up tomorrow. We could see Nico Lopez, Mattia Destro or an attacking midfielder come in for Lamela. I have never had problems with De Rossi. Carlo Ancelotti likes him, so do many others considering his career, but he is a Roma player.
“Could we have done with David Pizarro? There have been many great players at Roma. We could probably do with Gabriel Batistuta too, but we have decided to focus on a project with young players.”
Finally, Zeman was asked about the anti-Semitic attack on Tottenham fans this week, as the first two arrests were identified as Roma ultras.
“I don’t want to talk about it because it has nothing to do with football.”
Roma squad for Pescara: Balzaretti, Bradley, Burdisso, Castan, Destro, Dodò, Florenzi, Goicoechea, Lobont, Lopez, Marquinho, Marquinhos, Osvaldo, Perrotta, Piris, Pjanic, Romagnoli, Svedkauskas, Tachtsidis, Totti