Speaking to the microphones of Sky Sports after the 4-2 loss against Roma, Roberto Mancini commented on the defeat.

”Roma have been playing well for the last year. We all knew it would be a difficult game but we were in it for a long period. In the first half, we were doing something wrong. We let them cut inside too easily from the right side of the pitch. When we conceded for the second and third time, the ball remained inside the penalty area. We made several mistakes and we have to work to correct our mistakes.”

When asked about Fredy Guarin, ”He is a midfielder but he has to figure out when to attack the ball, when to hold his ground, and when to play the ball.”

Regarding his expulsion, he said, ”Expulsion? I do not really want to comment on it much. I didn’t just protest for nothing – I had a reason.”

”I know that we have to work hard, and we made an effort to play this game well but the defeat does not change our vision going forward. Tonight we also managed to pressurize Roma. There were times when we countered and there were other periods when they were not able to easily push forward.”

”Not having many options, I had to adapt and field Kuzmanovic out wide and Guarin. The idea was to press Roma but we know that we have to improve. The aim is to play Champions League football next season and there are two roads to take us there.”

Elaborating on his plans moving forward, ”We need to improve our team work and build a team with a different module. The important task is to make fewer mistakes. But we definitely need to change our style and try to make it work for the month of December. I repeat, however, I have had a good first impression of the squad and have found a starting point to build on.”

”Osvaldo had a good game. We played three games last week and he had to start over Icardi, who had to rest. Both Icardi and Osvaldo will do well from now until the end of the year. When a team plays a year and a half with three defenders, it is difficult to change the defense to four in a short time. We have to improve quickly though”, he concluded.