Mourinho previews Udinese game | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho addressed the media earlier today and previewed Thursday’s match at the Olimpico vs Udinese.

On getting back to winning ways after the display against Hellas Verona:

“I didn’t understand the question very well. Why do few of us expect defeat? Why did we win earlier?”

“Here it is too easy fall into euphoria and then into depression. When did you see me elated one minute in two months? Only once. You have never seen me in this dynamic. Now you won’t see me in the opposite dynamic because we lost.”

“Maybe I’m too honest and after that game there I should have told the referee that he shouldn’t have given Veretout the yellow, the pitch, the rain. Maybe I’m too honest when I said we played badly. Maybe a draw was fine, but we lost. We are sad, but we are still balanced.”

“I know perfectly well why I came here. I think I came here because of my level of experience, maturity, balance and to not send these people into euphoria or depression because we lost a game. We have a lot to do.”

“You try, in a general way, to put us in the same group of teams that have finished 20 points above us. Leave us alone. We are only candidates to win the next game, just that. You want to analyze Verona with me, but I can’t. Monday wasn’t a day off for me and neither for my staff. We work every day to analyze and prepare, then the players arrive.”

“We are now candidates to win a very difficult match against Udinese, but so are they. We want to win this match. We are balanced. Less happy? That’s normal: we lost. We turn sadness into motivation and not into depression. Think who lost 2 games, who drew 2. We make our own path. We have ambitions based on tranquility.”

On what challenges he expects from Udinese:

“They played against a strong team. Goals from dead balls, on the first goal it was also a bit of a strange situation. The organization of the game against Juventus up to Napoli shows that they are solid. They know how to play, how to defend. It is a difficult team. They will still play with 5 behind but different from Verona. They have stability in their game. They have this physicality but also quality.”

On the team needing to find the right balance:

“If we didn’t have to work more, the Friedkins would have given me a 3-month contract and not 3 years. For some reason it’s 3 years. In 3 months it is very difficult. You can develop a team that is already a team, you can give something personal. When it’s not a team you don’t develop it in 3 months.”

“The chances against Sassuolo are a consequence of our ambition, it’s not a problem for me. If we lose out of ambition or desire to win, even some changes I made when the game was already “broken”, it’s a change that breaks even more. If Pellegrini is tired he plays alone in the midfield with Cristante. I knew what I was doing. I knew I was winning or losing. A problem is the 3 goals which are too many. When you score 2 away goals you have to win. You shouldn’t even consider a draw.”

“Defensively, we had some problems, it’s true, but also offensively we didn’t play well. I’m not going into the dynamics because maybe Gotti is interested. But I can say that we played badly. It could have been a draw, yes. Faraoni scored the goal of a lifetime while we could have still made a comeback. I didn’t want to look for an alibi. I’m not in this dimension of looking for alibis.”

On Vina’s status:

“He’s not available.”

On Calafiori as an option moving forward:

“Calafiori is a valid alternative at 19, with very few Serie A matches. Valid for us.”

“If you ask the same question to 4-5 teams that are the stronger in Serie A, maybe their manager would tell you that it is not a valid alternative because they have more experienced players. For us it is valid and in my opinion he played a bit timidly, but balanced.”

“When we talk about having defensive problems it’s true, but I can say that I expect a little more from my full-backs to play with confidence. He is 19 years old and has quality but without much experience. Time is needed.”

On the two midfielders:

“There are teams that have the opportunity to think about changes, it’s more difficult for us. For other positions it is easier because there are equally experienced players. For others it is a bit difficult to do this. Usually I don’t say who plays or not, but tomorrow Cristante and Veretout will play.”

On the euphoria and depression possibly affecting the players:

“I can’t control the players or you who are the closest journalists to Roma. Not even the fans. I can try to influence those close to me.”

“I liked what happened after the victories. We celebrated the last minute against Sassuolo, but in the other victories I saw a balanced dressing room. After the defeat they were sad as I like it, balanced. We work and we have to play. We have to transform sadness into motivation with stability which is very important. I said that the season is a road with curves and you must always drive with concentration, with vision. It is not a highway. This is true for a top team that always wins, maybe Bayern or PSG. Very quietly.”