Dybala: ‘Roma were sluggish, lacked right determination’

Paulo Dybala confessed Roma were ‘sluggish’ in their Europa League defeat to Viktoria Plzen and were ‘lacking the right determination and aggression.’

The Stadio Olimpico used to be their fortress, but it is notable that all four of the Giallorossi defeats this season between Serie A and the Europa League have been at home.

“We created less today than the defeat to Inter, but it becomes difficult after conceding two early goals like that. If you under-estimate the game, this is what happens, and there are no easy matches in Europe,” Dybala told Sky Sport Italia.

They conceded two goals in three minutes this evening, as Prince Adu turned Jan Ziolkowski and then Cheick Souaré hit a scorcher into the far bottom corner.

Gian Piero Gasperini pulled the plug on Ziolkowski’s first start for the club after just 30 minutes, but a Paulo Dybala penalty was not enough to turn this situation around.

“If we don’t start with the right determination and concentration, then we’ll never manage to win. I think what we lacked was aggression. We came on sluggish, it’s horrible to say because during the week we prepare, we say we’re going to do certain things, and then they don’t happen.”

Roma are now hovering just above the elimination places in the Europa League table, as the opening 2-1 win away to OGC Nice was followed by home losses to Lille and Viktoria Plzen.

“Now we mustn’t start getting too worried. We have to analyse the mistakes that we made, but also remember we won some very difficult games too,” concluded Dybala.

“We need to think positive and remember we can only get out of this moment by fighting hard.”