Serie A: Mourinho reacts to first Roma defeat at Hellas Verona

Jose Mourinho admits he will ‘need a few hours to work out what just happened’ after Roma fell to a shock 3-2 defeat at Hellas Verona on Sunday.

The Giallorossi had taken the lead through Lorenzo Pellegrini’s sensational back-heel flick, but Verona turned it around on the debut of new coach Igor Tudor.

“I knew that Verona had a lot of quality and that they were difficult to play against, especially that after a change of coach there is usually a psychological reaction, which is what we saw today,” Mourinho told DAZN.

“Tudor’s style of football is very similar to the one Hellas played last season under Ivan Juric, so it wasn’t hard for the players to adapt to him.

“We put the effort in, I cannot complain about that, but we lost too many individual duels. Hellas had more intensity. Now I need a few hours in front of the video replays to work out what just happened.”

Mou revealed some of the tactical keys to the match, insisting Tudor had not surprised Roma, they just didn’t react the right way.

“We didn’t interpret the situations properly. Nicolò Zaniolo was meant to drop deeper and protect Rick Karsdorp, not press forward. We also went too heavy on the long ball.”

Read Also: AC Milan fans mock Juventus after Serie A clash

Verona came flying out of the blocks for the second half, equalising and then taking the lead in just five minutes through Antonin Barak and Gianluca Caprari.

“It was obvious Hellas would react, because it was an open game. That was not a surprise for us either,” added the coach.

“We have to deal with difficult moments better, because we cannot always be in control.”