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Jose Mourinho admits Roma's weaknesses and manages to throw shade at Chelsea in the same breath.
Jose Mourinho gave a typical interview after Roma's 2-0 Serie A win against Fiorentina on Sunday, pointing out several weaknesses in his team.
The Portuguese tactician admitted that his team "lacks quality" and "we can’t just buy Mudryk for €100 million," in a not-so-subtle dig at his old club Chelsea.
Mourinho's comment refers to Chelsea's most recent signing, Mykhailo Mudryk who joined the club from Shakhtar Donetsk for a reported €100 million fee including add-ons.
Mourinho bemoans lack of quality in Roma squad
Mourinho gave a typically brutally honest assertion of his team in a post-match interview with DAZN after they defeated 10-man Fiorentina 2-0 thanks to a brace from Paulo Dybala.
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“In terms of tactics, motivation and dealing with the team, I can only speak highly of my players, so highly. But I would like a little more quality and confidence on the ball. We make do with our characteristics,” Mourinho told DAZN.
The Portuguese coach lamented, “I am not expecting anyone to arrive. The director (Tiago Pinto) was very honest and direct, he said things in an interview that a coach usually doesn’t like to hear. Coaches always want to hear we have lots of money, can buy option a, b, c, d, build an incredible team. That is the dream"
“I worked at clubs with those sorts of practically limitless funds. There are more and more clubs nowadays who fit that profile, but it’s not our profile. We work, we give our all, we work with the characteristics we’ve got," the 59-year-old said.
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Jose reiterated, “In order to get that quality, we must get the children to grow. Tahirovic has this quality. We need a defender who can pass the ball better out of defence and Kumbulla is probably the one who does it best, but we need Ibanez because of his pace and determination."
But the true soundbite came as Mourinho was pondering solutions to Roma's quality problems, “We need to find a solution, we can’t just buy Mudryk for €100m!”
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That was a reference to Chelsea (one of Mourinho's former employers) spending big on Shakhtar Donetsk talent Mykhailo Mudryk.
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