Jose Mourinho labels Roma stars ‘superficial’ and targets Houssem Aouar after Servette draw | OneFootball

Roma head coach Jose Mourinho has, on Thursday night, taken public aim at his players once more.

Mourinho, of course, guided his Giallorossi troops back into action a short time ago. Turning attentions back towards matters on the continent, Roma made the trip to Geneva, for a meeting with Swiss outfit Servette.

The capital giants headed into proceedings aware that an eventual victory would see them, at the least, keep pace with table-topping Slavia Prague ahead of the final round of Europa League group stage fixtures.

When all was said and done, however, they were forced to settle for a disappointing share of the spoils.

After Romelu Lukaku opened the game’s scoring with 20 minutes on the clock, Servette’s Chris Bedia struck what proved to be a decisive equaliser early in the 2nd-half.

And, as alluded to above, one member of the Roma setup who was left altogether underwhelmed with the latest efforts of his side comes in the form of boss Jose Mourinho.

Speaking to the media post-match on Thursday, Mourinho was drawn on the Giallorossi’s display.

And the Portuguese proved typically blunt in his response, slamming his players’ ‘superficial’ collective attitude, before singling substitute Houssem Aouar out for particular blame:

“We had important opportunities, but the start of the second half was something that happens too often to us,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia, as cited by Goal.

“It’s a pity that you don’t have a camera in our locker room at half-time, because every time I make it clear to them that the opponents playing at home who are a goal down will come out fighting. That is a natural reaction, it is something we expect.

“Yet again we were superficial in our attitude, in our interpretation of this moment of the match. There are players who once again missed an opportunity to prove themselves, for example Aouar.

“There are several who are on the bench and come on in Serie A with a great attitude, then in the Europa League they come on with this sluggish attitude, like they are not accustomed to being on the bench and then do not improve the game.”

Conor Laird | GIFN