Ex-Roma man Federico Balzaretti: “De Rossi’s dismissal was a huge blow for him.” | OneFootball

Former Roma player and executive Federico Balzaretti weighed in on the capital club’s rough to the season.

In an interview with Retesport, Balzaretti discussed De Rossi’s dismissal from the club.

“It was a huge blow for him,” said Balzaretti. “Everyone knows how much he cared about this job. I met him recently, but we tried not to talk about it.”

“Sacking a coach is a difficult decision because it acknowledges a mistake made previously. It’s not easy for me to talk about a situation related to a friend, but it was a decision that made little sense: you can’t judge a coach’s work based on four games.”

“Now we need to look to the future with optimism and confidence: it’s the time in which the team and Juric need support and unity.”

“As an executive and former player I know how important the support of the public is in a place like Rome where it makes all the difference in the world.”

“Juric? I know the him well: he has clear ideas, from a defensive point of view, different from De Rossi, even if he has changed something compared to the beginning of his career.”

“The requests are different but the characteristics of the players mean that the rotations, the changes of position are quite similar. Roma continue to keep the ball as much as they did with De Rossi: they produced a lot and continue to do so.”

“When defending man-to-man, the reference is always your opponent while in zonal defense it is clearly your teammate: completely different principles, so time is needed.”

“In Juric’s Roma, a player who I think could struggle is Paredes. When you have this attitude when not in possession of the ball, you wage a sort of psychological warfare with the opponent: it is an attitude that you have to have and get used to.”

“Juric will make his ideas available to the team and then, based on the characteristics of the players, he will modulate his choices. For example, I don’t think he will ask Dybala to follow Bastoni all over the pitch.”