Claudio Ranieri ‘encouraged’ by Roma’s recent performances

Roma boss Claudio Ranieri did not sound disheartened by the team’s defeat to Atalanta last night.

In fact, the veteran manager spoke about his confidence in the team following the final whistle at Stadio Olimpico.

“The three performances we offered against top teams such as Napoli, Spurs and Atalanta encourage me to say that we are ready to fight,” Ranieri said in his post-match presser.

“Maybe someone might think that, with the three difficult matches over, now come the ones in which it will be easy to get the better of all the teams. That won’t be the case.”

“I have already told the team that, although they deserve compliments for their commitment and for having given everything, even going above and beyond, the next matches will be even more difficult.”

“The beauty of Serie A is that all the teams want to win and try to create problems for you. Lecce, in particular, and we know well what Lecce represents in Rome, will be a complicated challenge. We saw how they played the other night: they are a tough, compact team that doesn’t give up until the end.”

“In these three matches, what I asked of the team, except against Napoli, has been understood. Probably in that match I didn’t explain myself well, but both against Tottenham and against Atalanta the boys understood perfectly what I wanted.”

“As long as we had energy, we managed to put our opponents in difficulty, forcing them to make changes to stop our advance.”

“It’s a shame, though, because you see that great teams, in difficult moments, still manage to win. They won with two own goals, so congratulations to them.”