Friday 13 April 2007

Spalletti: No need for apology

Luciano Spalletti understands the criticism following the Manchester United defeat, but insists his Roma side have nothing to apologise for.

The capital outfit went to Old Trafford on Tuesday with a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, only to see themselves destroyed 7-1 by the English club.

"It was a horrible match for us and we were rightly criticised after the game," noted the tactician in a press conference on Friday, where the whole Roma squad attended to show their togetherness.

"However, I don’t think we need to apologise – at least not as an admission of guilt. We owe it to our fans only out of respect for their unlimited affection and support.

"We did what we had to do. I want everyone to know that all Roma players are committed to this jersey.

"We are eager to make up for the match in England and we are motivated, but I don’t want to make any promises."

The former Udinese boss, whose side face Sampdoria this weekend, also asked for balance to be used when judging his Giallorossi boys following this week’s European nightmare. "I don’t think it is fair to say that we didn’t show any character, seeing that we were seen as ‘champions’ up to 10 minutes before the tie," he continued.

"It is logical that we want to understand what went wrong, but we need balance. We cannot just throw all that was done before the Old Trafford match into the sea."

Spalletti did use the post-match interviews to ask for new players, a request which seemingly didn’t go down too well with Roma’s chief operating officer Rosella Sensi. "I simply answered a journalist’s question, saying that I believed we needed more men in order to fight for important results," responded the tactician.

"However, I wasn’t happy to read that there is a supposed conflict between Sensi and myself. There are no problems between us and I would never go asking for money that isn’t available."

No comments:

Post a Comment