Fonseca gives Roma hints for the Europa League against Man Utd

rotated the team for the clash against

this evening, but failed to seal the three points despite

Carles Perez

and

Federico Fazio

meeting the target.

“

I don’t think we had the wrong attitude. We didn’t fight for the result against Torino, but that was not the case here,”

Paulo Fonseca

told

Sky Sport Italia

.

“We conceded an early goal after an error, we reacted with intensity, got the equaliser and were always trying to create chances by getting closer to their penalty area.

“Unfortunately, Cagliari scored on our mistakes, but if I have to compare this to our performance against Torino, it’s a very different approach.”

Chris Smalling

had his first start after a month and the Giallorossi are considering playing him against his former club.

“He did very well. It was important to get Chris at least 45 minutes of playing time, he had more than that, and I think it was positive. Now he has the chance to play against Manchester United.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to give some playing time to all those who were coming back from injury, but Chris and Leonardo Spinazzola were the most important ones to get minutes in their legs.”

When the coach was quizzed whether Bryan Cristante or Smalling will start against the Red Devils on Thursday, he responded: “We will see. It is possible we will use them both.”

With Roma climbing down the

table, Fonseca’s future depends on the

.

“I have always been focused entirely on my work. This semi-final with Manchester United is very important and I must stay entirely focused on a game that is too important for us.

“It’s true that Manchester United are very dangerous on the counter-attack, but we must realise it’ll be really difficult if we go to Manchester and just defend. We need to keep the ball and make it difficult for them. The team must show character and not sit too deep.”

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