During the pre-match preparations for the Roma - Sassuolo match , Roma coach Alberto Aquilani spoke to Sky Sport . Here are his words.
Aquilani's words
You made Roma fans dream, forming a midfield partnership with De Rossi. How do you feel about returning to the Olimpico, where you received so much applause?
"Yes, it's obvious that this stadium means something important to me. I live five minutes away from here, I dreamed of this stadium throughout my adolescence, I had the honor of playing there, and returning as a coach certainly feels great. It's obvious that my job, my role, requires me to put this aspect aside a bit, because I'm coming in feeling a little low due to recent results. So we have to do everything we can to lift ourselves up, to bring something out of ourselves, because we need it, knowing that today we're facing a very, very strong team."
The lineup seems to suggest a Sassuolo team that's more focused on balance, especially in defense, against the league's most prolific attack. Is this the right choice?
"Yes, yes, it's obvious that there's a change from that standpoint. But beyond the tactical aspect, because we changed something against Fiorentina too, we need to factor in the individual aspect, the aspect of danger perception, of sensing that in certain areas of the pitch you need to be a little more focused, you need to be a little more alert, otherwise there's no system that holds up. It's obvious that Roma is a team with the best attack in the league. We're struggling right now because we're conceding too many goals, so we're trying to find some adjustments, which can be tactical, as you say. But beyond that, we need a different competitive spirit in certain areas of the pitch; otherwise, you can play with ten men in the penalty area, but you'll still concede goals. So the tactical aspect is fine, but we also need a little more in terms of competitive spirit."
On Sassuolo's difficult moment and the need to regain balance.
“Obviously, results do a lot. We had some strong results in the first few games, so there was confidence, there was spirits. What happens? You lose a game, then you lose another, then you find yourself chasing or saying 'I have to win this one,' but you face strong teams and you fall back into it. So it's a succession of things that have led us into a bad tunnel, because it's four consecutive defeats, because then when defeats come, you risk losing some of your confidence. We've started a project based on a game plan, which also relies on a bit of light-heartedness, which this team needs on the pitch to deliver what we want to deliver. And if the results don't come, everything becomes much more complicated. The incident, I rely on the incident. We have to try to turn the incident on our side. In the last few games, the incident was too easy for the opponents, and that incident then dramatically influences the matches, the mood, etc.”
