Luis Enrique : I am worried

Thursday 22 September, 2011
Luis Enrique: 'I am worried'



Luis Enrique admits he is “worried at the lack of self-belief in the players” after Roma failed to win again.

The Coach has not registered a single victory since taking charge of the side, drawing three and losing two between Serie A and the Europa League preliminary round.


After the 1-1 draw with Siena, the Spanish tactician stayed in the locker room for some time for a meeting with the squad and director of sport Walter Sabatini.


“My conclusions cannot be positive,” confessed Enrique. “I think the team did everything we expected, but we don’t risk going for goal. We cannot finish moves with as many players as I’d like.


“Siena had an interesting second half performance, while we had problems moving the ball around and getting into the box.


“I am worried by the entire situation, but above all the lack of self-belief in the players that can only increase as results don’t come. We were frightened and that is normal, because we still haven’t had our first win. This is a situation that has to be improved.”


Siena could’ve scored more than one, as they were repeatedly dangerous on the counter-attack.


“I had the same problem in Spain, as in the three years I trained Barcelona B, all my opponents played the counter-attack game against us. We are far from what I want, but I remain confident.


“On Sunday we have an important match against Parma and it is my job to motivate the squad, bringing back their confidence. We all have to improve.”

"“I had the same problem in Spain, as in the three years I trained Barcelona B, all my opponents played the counter-attack game against us. We are far from what I want, but I remain confident."

This, I'm very afraid of. LE knows about the counter-attack, but in La Liga it is very different then in Serie A, in Serie A, most tactics are based on this, while in La Liga it's not. Same say Serie A clubs are masters at it, Milan proved it with Barcelona and Napoli with MC. I really hope Enrique know's what he's doing. Let's give him more time, as long as we keep improving with our ball possesion, then I don't see any problems.

Yep like we saw tonight anytime we lost the ball we were out numbered on the counter way to many times..

We did have a lot of possession but not enough in forward areas.

Overall, I'm not too worried. Still quite early in the season and the team is showing signs of beginning to adapt to LE's tactics. It's not all coming at once and that's fine.

We all knew what we were in for this season. It's gonna be chalk full of games like this. Don't forget that, guys.

Our unwillingness to attack Siena in the second half for fear of them hitting us on the counter did worry me quite a bit today, I will admit. That was simply a lack of belief and confidence, like LE said.

If we're to win a match, it's gonna have to be ugly at this point. We're gonna have to grind them out. Once we get that win, then I think we'll see more confidence. I personally would love to see us get that confidence before that point though or leading up to it.

McLewis wrote:Overall, I'm not too worried. Still quite early in the season and the team is showing signs of beginning to adapt to LE's tactics. It's not all coming at once and that's fine.

We all knew what we were in for this season. It's gonna be chalk full of games like this. Don't forget that, guys.

Our unwillingness to attack Siena in the second half for fear of them hitting us on the counter did worry me quite a bit today, I will admit. That was simply a lack of belief and confidence, like LE said.

If we're to win a match, it's gonna have to be ugly at this point. We're gonna have to grind them out. Once we get that win, then I think we'll see more confidence. I personally would love to see us get that confidence before that point though or leading up to it.

Well I am.What worries me the most from tonights match was how easily Siena attacked us and we looked shaky evertime they did.They could've easily had 5 or 6 tonight.Now that was Siena just think what a better and more clinical counter attacking side will do to us...

The Fonz wrote:

McLewis wrote:Overall, I'm not too worried. Still quite early in the season and the team is showing signs of beginning to adapt to LE's tactics. It's not all coming at once and that's fine.

We all knew what we were in for this season. It's gonna be chalk full of games like this. Don't forget that, guys.

Our unwillingness to attack Siena in the second half for fear of them hitting us on the counter did worry me quite a bit today, I will admit. That was simply a lack of belief and confidence, like LE said.

If we're to win a match, it's gonna have to be ugly at this point. We're gonna have to grind them out. Once we get that win, then I think we'll see more confidence. I personally would love to see us get that confidence before that point though or leading up to it.

Well I am.What worries me the most from tonights match was how easily Siena attacked us and we looked shaky evertime they did.They could've easily had 5 or 6 tonight.Now that was Siena just think what a better and more clinical counter attacking side will do to us...

When Roma plays a lesser team of Siena or Lecce or Cesena's quality...we always find it tough. We always drop to their level and as a result, the matches are often very open.

This has always been a problem for us.

Look at how well we played against Inter. We did everything, but create chances for 80 minutes in that match.

The fact that we played less-illustrious opponents is what contributed to the result.

McLewis wrote:

The Fonz wrote:

McLewis wrote:Overall, I'm not too worried. Still quite early in the season and the team is showing signs of beginning to adapt to LE's tactics. It's not all coming at once and that's fine.

We all knew what we were in for this season. It's gonna be chalk full of games like this. Don't forget that, guys.

Our unwillingness to attack Siena in the second half for fear of them hitting us on the counter did worry me quite a bit today, I will admit. That was simply a lack of belief and confidence, like LE said.

If we're to win a match, it's gonna have to be ugly at this point. We're gonna have to grind them out. Once we get that win, then I think we'll see more confidence. I personally would love to see us get that confidence before that point though or leading up to it.

Well I am.What worries me the most from tonights match was how easily Siena attacked us and we looked shaky evertime they did.They could've easily had 5 or 6 tonight.Now that was Siena just think what a better and more clinical counter attacking side will do to us...

When Roma plays a lesser team of Siena or Lecce or Cesena's quality...we always find it tough. We always drop to their level and as a result, the matches are often very open.

This has always been a problem for us.

Look at how well we played against Inter. We did everything, but create chances for 80 minutes in that match.

The fact that we played less-illustrious opponents is what contributed to the result.

But when have you seen a team come to the Olimpico and get so many scoring opportunities against us.New system I know,but LE has had enough training sessions with the team ( Strike as well) and I see no improvements esp in the attacking department. and I can't see it getting better anytime soon.

The Fonz wrote:

McLewis wrote:

The Fonz wrote:

McLewis wrote:Overall, I'm not too worried. Still quite early in the season and the team is showing signs of beginning to adapt to LE's tactics. It's not all coming at once and that's fine.

We all knew what we were in for this season. It's gonna be chalk full of games like this. Don't forget that, guys.

Our unwillingness to attack Siena in the second half for fear of them hitting us on the counter did worry me quite a bit today, I will admit. That was simply a lack of belief and confidence, like LE said.

If we're to win a match, it's gonna have to be ugly at this point. We're gonna have to grind them out. Once we get that win, then I think we'll see more confidence. I personally would love to see us get that confidence before that point though or leading up to it.

Well I am.What worries me the most from tonights match was how easily Siena attacked us and we looked shaky evertime they did.They could've easily had 5 or 6 tonight.Now that was Siena just think what a better and more clinical counter attacking side will do to us...

When Roma plays a lesser team of Siena or Lecce or Cesena's quality...we always find it tough. We always drop to their level and as a result, the matches are often very open.

This has always been a problem for us.

Look at how well we played against Inter. We did everything, but create chances for 80 minutes in that match.

The fact that we played less-illustrious opponents is what contributed to the result.

But when have you seen a team come to the Olimpico and get so many scoring opportunities against us.New system I know,but LE has had enough training sessions with the team ( Strike as well) and I see no improvements esp in the attacking department. and I can't see it getting better anytime soon.

Gotta keep the faith, Dave.

Can't panic when the results don't start to come. We're very far from that point right now.

The problem lies within the system regarding what LE really wants. Possesion is fundamental, and in that department, we are doing great. The problem is, our finishing. We depend to much on possesion, we don't take on much oppurtunities, and because of it, we don't score much. We must get away from that, and start pouncing on some, our finishing could be better as well. Just like Mclewis said, we must wait and give it more time, but the fear is naturally normal, I feared the same with Montella, but he proved me wrong. I was puzzeled to see Totti back from his form, so when LE arrived I was also optimisitic because he as well is a former player and new at coaching. But, what can we say, let's just wait, if nothing goes good, I hope we can convince Montella to come back. I really enjoyed his tactics of what he adapted from Spaletti.

Don't worry guys! This is Roma! Forza Roma!

romanista99 wrote:The problem lies within the system regarding what LE really wants. Possesion is fundamental, and in that department, we are doing great. The problem is, our finishing. We depend to much on possesion, we don't take on much oppurtunities, and because of it, we don't score much. We must get away from that, and start pouncing on some, our finishing could be better as well. Just like Mclewis said, we must wait and give it more time, but the fear is naturally normal, I feared the same with Montella, but he proved me wrong. I was puzzeled to see Totti back from his form, so when LE arrived I was also optimisitic because he as well is a former player and new at coaching. But, what can we say, let's just wait, if nothing goes good, I hope we can convince Montella to come back. I really enjoyed his tactics of what he adapted from Spaletti.

Don't worry guys! This is Roma! Forza Roma!

The problem isn't really that we're depending too much on just keeping possession. But it's our possession play that's not leading up to anything. It's fine to play a possession game, but we have to create more concrete chances out of it. This is going to take time though; we need to find a pretty consistent starting 11. Training sessions will only help us to a certain point with regard to tactics, it takes real in-game practice.

The positive aspect here is that we haven't taken a step back. There was improvement from Cagliari to Inter and again from Inter to Siena. Yes, we hoped for a win, so the result is disappointing. But, in terms of our play, we haven't really taken a step back, so we could still grab a positive out of this match and march forward to the next one. Another positive, we're still tied with Milan, so it can't be that bad lol.

Hey Romans...
I am a Juventini & I watched the match today & if I can give my honest opinion...
I think Roma is coming along pretty well & U guys got some good talent to work with...
I am real impressed by Kjaer...I actually gave him the man of the match vs Inter & Siena...
his ankle save of Sneijder shot & that clear off the line from the Siena header...
I think Roma lacks the confident to dominate the football...
U guys need more confidence in mid field...if u control mid field...u control the game...
I think LE should..play De Rossi as a CM & Totti as SS because they are the icons in the team right now...& he need to play Bojan & give Borini & Pjanic time to grow...

Ive always loved Francesco Totti, hes the best player Roma has ever had, hes a legend of Roma and always will be. Having said that hes also 34 going on 35 and I truly believe its time for him to step aside for the good of the team. RUAL was and is a true legend of Madrid. The Totti of Madrid. Rual knew when it was time to move on. He knew that he could not provide Madrid with what it needed anymore. While hes still a great player and does good things for Schalke, hes not a Madrid level player at this point. The same can be said for Francesco. Against Inter he was not good at all. Sorry to say. His free kicks were off, his pases and shots were awfull. We are playing 2 strikers on the wing right now because he remains in the the middle. Osvaldo and Boriello are good poachers and they are left out on the wing to satisfy some need we Romans have to cling on to Totti. IMO he should be used as a late game sub, and only as such. I know most people will disagree with me and thats fine, I respect all of your opinions. But to me and all my amici (who are not Roma fans) this is a major problem for us.

We do need time to properly flow as a team. And I believe we will see results sooner than later. In a 4-3-3 we need more speed on the wide positions. The only attacking speed we have right now lays in the boots of Bojan, Borini, and Lamela (cant wait to see him feature). I wouldnt mind seeing Borini and Bojan on the wing with either Osvaldo or Boriello playing as a proper striker, with Pjanic playing behind him, and have Gago and De Rossi supporting them all. We need that speed to make diagonal runs so our midfielders have an outlet to create chances. Mix in some crosses into our possesioin play. Get down the wing and feed Osvaldo or Boriello in the box. Get some shots and hope for rebounds. With our strikers as wingers we are not going to get the chances we need. Even if Siena had chances they miss, if we have 3 or 4 goals, im willing to take that risk.

DiRocco wrote:Ive always loved Francesco Totti, hes the best player Roma has ever had, hes a legend of Roma and always will be. Having said that hes also 34 going on 35 and I truly believe its time for him to step aside for the good of the team. RUAL was and is a true legend of Madrid. The Totti of Madrid. Rual knew when it was time to move on. He knew that he could not provide Madrid with what it needed anymore. While hes still a great player and does good things for Schalke, hes not a Madrid level player at this point. The same can be said for Francesco. Against Inter he was not good at all. Sorry to say. His free kicks were off, his pases and shots were awfull. We are playing 2 strikers on the wing right now because he remains in the the middle. Osvaldo and Boriello are good poachers and they are left out on the wing to satisfy some need we Romans have to cling on to Totti. IMO he should be used as a late game sub, and only as such. I know most people will disagree with me and thats fine, I respect all of your opinions. But to me and all my amici (who are not Roma fans) this is a major problem for us.

We do need time to properly flow as a team. And I believe we will see results sooner than later. In a 4-3-3 we need more speed on the wide positions. The only attacking speed we have right now lays in the boots of Bojan, Borini, and Lamela (cant wait to see him feature). I wouldnt mind seeing Borini and Bojan on the wing with either Osvaldo or Boriello playing as a proper striker, with Pjanic playing behind him, and have Gago and De Rossi supporting them all. We need that speed to make diagonal runs so our midfielders have an outlet to create chances. Mix in some crosses into our possesioin play. Get down the wing and feed Osvaldo or Boriello in the box. Get some shots and hope for rebounds. With our strikers as wingers we are not going to get the chances we need. Even if Siena had chances they miss, if we have 3 or 4 goals, im willing to take that risk.

Dude, why, out of all the people that you could've possibly criticized after the Siena match, did you decide to go for one of the contenders for Man of the match (as he has been for most of the season along with Angel)? Totti played a fantastic match in his position. And if you think that he's preventing our strikers from playing in their natural positions, it's because you're looking at the match on paper only. He's not playing as a central striker, he's playing in his natural trequartista role behind two strikers (Borriello and Osvaldo are not being used as wingers, it's a 4-3-3 only on paper, not in reality). He's the only one capable of playing that position to full effect and we need that extra creativity in midfield, especially now that not all our players are familiar with each other yet (Pjanic and Gago especially). That width that you are talking about is offered by our offensive minded fullbacks who push all the way up field, as practiced during the whole summer. The problem in my eyes yesterday was that the Osvaldo-Borriello partnership up front lacked speed and flair. I think it would be best to go with one between Bojan and Borini and another between Osvaldo and Borriello. That way, you get one physical striker with a strong presence in the opposing penalty area and another fast striker also capable of going out on the wing when he has to. Something a little like this:

---------------------Lobont---------------------------

---------------Burdisso-----Kjaer----------------------

---------------------De Rossi-------------------------
------------------------------------------------------

Perrotta ------Pizarro----------Pjanic ------------Angel

----------------------Totti----------------------------


---Borini---------------------Osvaldo------------------

Looks retarded, I know. But here, Perrotta would have that extra help that he very much needs on the right flank, as Borini is very much capable of dropping back and helping out in midfield. Osvaldo would be played more as a prima punta and not have to go as far back as he did yesterday. The rest remains unchanged from yesterday in terms of players and base positioning. Of course certain movements and habits have to be improved in order for this to work.

Back to Totti, there's a difference between Raul and Totti. Their roles were not the same. You could compare Raul to Inzaghi and your comparison would be spot on, but not in comparing him to Totti. Totti's passing, creativity and vision is unmatchable (and I'm not saying this just because I'm a Roma fan, it's the truth). His speed is not the same as it once was, yet he still managed to chase a guy into our box yesterday (following him from midfield) and put pressure on him to make him miss his strike. He still ran for 90 minutes and I think he only missed one touch the whole game. He was the only player consistently showing up to provide that extra support (something our other strikers can't do, with exception of maybe Borini). Against Inter, his passing was off but I actually think he was having problems with his boots because of the rain and the questionable San Siro pitch (I've watched him closely enough over the years to feel comfortable in giving him the benefit of the doubt for that first half); the rest of the time he was marked pretty well.

All in all, yes it's a great idea to have Totti step aside and allow the others to take the team forward. Easier said than done though, as I mentioned during the summer in another of my rather lengthy posts. We need someone with his creativity, passing and, well, all round skill and talent, so who is going to replace him? Bojan, Borriello, Okaka and Osvaldo don't possess all those characteristics and never will, they're rather restricted to their roles. Borini, will be a good player someday but, once again, not the same type. Lamela? Well I hope he could be an eventual replacement, but he's having a load of injury problems and has yet to ever put on the Roma jersey, so what could we possibly base our judgement on? U-20 World Cup? Please. All in all, we have no replacement for Totti at the moment and, even at nearly 35 years of age, he's by far our best player (not exaggerating, it's just that obvious), so Totti in our starting 11 it is and I for one have no problem with that.

Spot on, Mike as usual.

I'm quite sure Enrique knows that Totti is crucial to getting this team purring at this point. He hasn't subbed Totti at all in our last 3 matches if that's anything to go by.

People say that Totti should go the route of Del Piero or Giggs or Raul, but none of them have Totti's mentality and none of them are absolutely crucial to not only the football that their sides play, but the culture that surrounds the club.

Totti goes out there, runs his socks off and he fights. He deserves every minute given to him and that shouldn't be taken away just because he's lost a bit of pace and is playing with players he's never played with before. That's a completely ludicrous reason for subbing anyone in football, let alone your captain and talisman.

Good post Mike, and Mclewis, Tottis not like those other players because as you guys have said, hes still our best player.

To me our biggest problem is we have no width. every single one of our midfielders and forward is a central player, the only real wide threat we have is Angel, and when he makes a mistake to high up the pitch we get exposed easily.

For this reason im anxious to see if Lamela is ready because he may be able to help us in this department. The more I watch us play tho the more I believe that we should have bought a winger.

ErPupone wrote:The problem isn't really that we're depending too much on just keeping possession. But it's our possession play that's not leading up to anything. It's fine to play a possession game, but we have to create more concrete chances out of it. This is going to take time though; we need to find a pretty consistent starting 11. Training sessions will only help us to a certain point with regard to tactics, it takes real in-game practice.

The positive aspect here is that we haven't taken a step back. There was improvement from Cagliari to Inter and again from Inter to Siena. Yes, we hoped for a win, so the result is disappointing. But, in terms of our play, we haven't really taken a step back, so we could still grab a positive out of this match and march forward to the next one. Another positive, we're still tied with Milan, so it can't be that bad lol.

Indeed, and that is what I'm saying. Even though, I don't endore his tactics, I do understand it, and at this peak the lack of build up through our possesion is what hurt us the most. Our end product has not been productive, our oppurtunities are not coming, it's just pass after pass without an ending to it. Which of course, is the whole factor of our play, but we must find a way to get through that and make sure we can create chances out of it. Very true, it is going to take time, just like Italy is going through. There's actually a comparison with Italy and Roma with the aspect of their tactics. Knowing both that Prandelli and LE are using some what of the same style of play, but both struggle to create chances. Also, both are new squads. It took Italy a few games to adjust to it, and are still growing and improving as we speak, Roma is still the begining and there is much that needs to get done. The only concerete difference is, Italy is playing on the international scale where they meet different styles, LE is facing Serie A, a league mostly on Counter attacks and defensive styles.

Oh yes that is true, if we speak in terms of possesion which is our fundamental aspect of our style, we've done great at it, and yes with Siena we did well, with Inter we saw it proves to work, but it's the build up of oppurtunities that we have no seen. I hope we can over come that, because we trully lack it and we at this moment we need it the most. The Siena game, I myself personally knew it was going to be difficult, as it was midweek, but also their organization as a unit, this to me is a new Siena, that we haven't seen in a long time.

checazzofai wrote:Good post Mike, and Mclewis, Tottis not like those other players because as you guys have said, hes still our best player.

To me our biggest problem is we have no width. every single one of our midfielders and forward is a central player, the only real wide threat we have is Angel, and when he makes a mistake to high up the pitch we get exposed easily.

For this reason im anxious to see if Lamela is ready because he may be able to help us in this department. The more I watch us play tho the more I believe that we should have bought a winger.

Totti will always be the most important player for Roma. He's our capitano, our leader and heart of the squad. I understand why fans got fustrated about Totti not playing as a starter in the qualifiers. I was one of them, but it's alright I guess. The EL was not important in my eyes as we should only concentrate on our squad this season, and reach our goals and objectives in the next coming years.

Well if we speak in terms of a 4-3-3, the fullbacks need to understand that they have also offensive duties in which I might understand why LE used Taddei and Perotta. Angel has been doing great, I think this winter mercato, we should go after fullbacks who can both defend and support our strikers on the flanks. As for the lack of width, I don't think we need wingers, as our tactics don't really depend on it.

I too am excited to see Lamela and how he turns out to be, quite disapointed with Bojan as we spent a lot on him, but hasn't impressed me, but we know he is class, and hopefully he will adapt to our football soon. Also puzzled, by Borini who has proven himself to both LE on the pitch and in training the skill and potential he has. Three strikers for the future, and one of them will have to fight for that one spot.

Maybe I should have said some wide forwards not wingers, what I meant was forwards who are fast and can play out wide, if you look at Barcelona they use Pedro and Villa and now sanchez in the wide positions in their front 3. These are the type of wingers or wide forwards i think we should use for this style instead of Borriello and Osvaldo.

checazzofai wrote:Maybe I should have said some wide forwards not wingers, what I meant was forwards who are fast and can play out wide, if you look at Barcelona they use Pedro and Villa and now sanchez in the wide positions in their front 3. These are the type of wingers or wide forwards i think we should use for this style instead of Borriello and Osvaldo.

Oh no, I apologize for not understanding properly and mis-reading. Then I fully agree, maybe it would of been great Idealy to keep Vucinic as he would fit perfectly in that concept in which you are looking for as a wide forward, but his team with us, was going to end regardless I suppose. But I'm not mistaken, aren't we coming up with our own play, that according to LE saying we are not going to be like Barcelona.

Thats true, we shouldnt compare ourselves to Barcelona because we will only be let down if we do that and I totally agree that we should have kept Vuci. He would have been perfect for this team, thats the typ of player I was mentioning, its a shame he had to go, and its even worse that he went to Juve.

With Juve, he hasn't been that bad, although being sent off in their last fixture, he did score a goal and has impressed with them a lot in pre-season. It is a shame really, but we have new youth and future stars in our hands, who I think have tremendous potential, one of them being Borini who at this point has puzzled me as a fan the most. Great player. I hope to see Lamela and Bojan shine as well! I didn't really understand why we spent a lot of money on Osvaldo who isn't really a wide player, but that's just me.

Now I understand the situation with Lamela. Sabatini is blaming Argentina.

https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t8990-sabatini-blame-argentina-for-lamela

I left my thoughts about that situation in your other thread.

And it does look like we have some future stars on our hands with Lamela and Borini. I think Bojan will be a good player too but Im not sure how long he will stay in Rome.

I'm not certain abou this, but do we have a buy out clause in his loan?

we do but its something outrageous like 25 mil. Im not sure about the exact numbers...I will find out now

edit: so we payed Barca 12 mil for him, if they want him back next year they can take him for 13 mil. If they try to get him back we can block the move and keep him if we pay 28mil more.

Thats why I think its likely that he goes back to Spain and we get 1 mil out of the deal because 28mil seemsway too high.

there may be other details im not aware of

28m? Alright Bojan enjoy your two seasons in Roma. That, I will never spend

unless he turns into Batistuta druing the season I cant see him staying either.