Udinese boss Gotti: 'I must admit Roma played a great first half'

Udinese saw their four-game undefeated run in

finished with a 3-0 loss to

AS Roma

at the Stadio Olimpico. 

“First of all, I must admit Roma played a great first half,” the 53-year-old coach Gotti said after the match.

“They have great players and we conceded a goal after four minutes, losing our balance. We were unbalanced every time we tried to attack, it was the leitmotiv of the match and the penalty gave tranquilly to Roma,” he continued.

“During the break, we tried to understand why we allowed so many goal opportunities and why were so unbalanced and vulnerable.

“The second half was different, we were different as we tried to bounce back and score the equaliser, we wanted to press high up the pitch.”

The Zebrette were without their midfielder,

Roberto Pereyra

, due to his injury. 

“He is an important player for us, not only for his quality, but also for the interpretation of the game, he has a sensibility that makes him a special footballer.

“However, we have a lot of quality in the middle of the park today, but we were unable to stop their transitions.”

Pedro

joked with the Udinese coach toward the finish of the match. Gotti was one of Maurizio Sarri's assistants at Chelsea when the Spaniard was a Blues player.

“Before the game I told him: ‘You have a Europa League game on Thursday, just focus on that’,” Gotti revealed.

“He replied: ‘Come on, let me just play five minutes.’ He came off the bench and scored one goal. At the end of the game he joked with me about that."

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