Juric saw ‘a lot of Roma positives’ despite defeat to Elfsborg | OneFootball

Ivan Juric insists he saw ‘a lot of positives’ from Roma in their 1-0 Europa League defeat to Elfsborg and it is not ‘worth throwing everything away’ from this performance.

The Giallorossi have won both their Serie A games since the coach took over from Daniele De Rossi, but their continental campaign is already in crisis.

They were held to a 1-1 home draw by Athletic Club and today crumbled 1-0 against Elfsborg in Sweden, defeated by the Michael Baidoo penalty for a Tommaso Baldanzi handling offence.

Mile Svilar had to make several saves and while Roma had more possession in the second half, their only real chances were created by Lorenzo Pellegrini after the big names came off the bench.

Juric irritated by Roma criticism

When asked why the performance was so stilted and negative, Juric did not appreciate the line of questioning.

“I saw a lot of positives, we moved the ball well and there are certainly things we need to improve on the counter-attacks, but I do not agree with your vision of the game,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.

“I saw a lot of good moves, many chances to score and we accept that we were unable to score, but I would not call it a negative performance, nor a chaotic one.

“What I notice is the preventative marking, because even when we are in superiority, we are not aggressive enough to stop those counters. We kept the ball for long periods, but there are situations we need to improve.”

There was massive squad rotation this evening, so did Juric regret making so many changes to the starting XI and are they putting in too many crosses for Eldor Shomurodov?

“We did a lot to get into the final third and should’ve had more quality. We had that chance with Pellegrini where Dovbyk held up the ball. Overall, I saw some very interesting things, much more football, occupying the spaces, and we still allow far too many counter-attacks.

“Of course the result is negative, but I don’t think it’s worth throwing everything away.”

Jose Mourinho had complained about the lack of alternatives, so did Daniele De Rossi, does Juric agree the Roma squad is not built properly?

“I have a squad and I think debating that is counter-productive. I am very satisfied with many things, we need to improve many others, but now we have to concentrate on the next match. I saw impressive steps forward in terms of our football, but we lacked something in the details.”

Matias Soulé seems to be really struggling to make his mark at Roma, perhaps also because he had been convinced to come to the Stadio Olimpico in order to fit into De Rossi’s tactical ideas.

“He works hard, has quality, it’s his second full year in Serie A. Perhaps at this moment he is not expressing his full talent, but he doesn’t suffer from the pressure and tries to put himself about,” concluded Juric.

“Let’s not forget he only had one season at Frosinone, so he needs time and patience to work on his physicality and I already saw improvements in his positioning today.”