After Roma succumbed to a disastrous defeat against Slavia Praha this evening in the Europa League, Andrea Belotti put the loss down to “a matter of attitude”.
Slavia Praha won 2-0 at the Fortuna Arena to put them top of Group G. Roma are second and still have a good chance of qualifying but Jose Mourinho will be unhappy at the performance tonight, as they missed out on chance to qualify today.
Belotti in his post-match interview, as reported by Sky Italia (via TMW), said: “We lacked a bit of attitude, we could have done better with the ball.”
Roma held 53% of the possession but had an XG of only 0.38. By contrast the home team’s XG was 2.05.
Belotti went on to say: “In the first half we created little, they always took the second balls and at this level, missing these things makes you struggle a lot. I don’t think physically, it was the general attitude and it didn’t seem like a physical thing to me.”
Mourinho will be annoyed more than anything at the possibility that his side were complacent and ended up being clearly second best to a team that they should have had no trouble dealing with.
Roma have the chance to respond to this setback on Sunday when they face Lazio in a huge derby. Lazio have made a mixed start to the season but are sure to be fired up and ready for a battle.
Japtej Ghura | GIFN
