Jose Mourinho took aim at critics of Roma after a 2-0 win over Empoli on Saturday, reminding fickle fans he could have left the club in December.
The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss has put Roma in the mix for a top-four finish and a place in next season's Champions League, yet he feels he continues to get a raw deal.
Goals from Roger Ibanez and Tammy Abraham inside the opening six minutes set up the latest victory that moved the capital club, at least briefly, up to third place in Serie A.
Mourinho is thought to have been wanted by Portugal after the World Cup, but the 60-year-old elected to stay with Roma and hopes that will prove a wise decision.
A narrow defeat to runaway leaders Napoli last week was followed by the blow of a Coppa Italia quarter-final exit at the hands of Cremonese, the whipping boys of the Italian top flight this season.
Roma fans booed at times on Saturday as they continue to reel from that cup disappointment, with captain Lorenzo Pellegrini not spared when he came off in stoppage time, near the end of the game.
But Mourinho said: "Pellegrini has a coach who respects him and respects everything he does for the team. Out of 60,000 people, maybe 20, 30, 50 people boo."
He said his team were playing "with our limitations", a reference to their limited squad depth, and said beating Empoli should be regarded as "an excellent victory, because we played against a very difficult team".
Mourinho added: "Some fans don't understand it, but this is normal. Fans love the club, but football is not their area. Obviously there are those who understand, and there are people in the press who should have understood, because it's their job, and who in my opinion understand but pretend not to understand that this is our reality."
For the Cremonese cup game, Mourinho started without a number of his Serie A regulars, believing they needed to be protected from a heavy schedule, but the likes of Abraham, Nemanja Matic and Paulo Dybala were back in the starting XI for the Empoli game.
"I think that if this team plays against Cremonese, we win and we're in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia," Mourinho said. "But then we wouldn't have won today. This is our reality. We always do our best, we work hard.
"Today, before the game, I told the players that we have to go onto the pitch with a backpack full of the frustration and sadness of the last game, but we can't expect anyone to help. Just us.
"For the first time I went on the pitch with them in the warm-up and our feeling was exactly this: it's just us. The truth is that we do our best. And as I always say, when you give your best, you can't give more. We always give our best.
"I think day after day. I could have left in December, and I didn't leave, I stayed here. And this is my life. Sometimes it seems like we're in trouble, in the relegation zone, but we're there, we're at the top, with all those teams that are very strong. But that's okay."
It remains to be seen whether Mourinho will be in charge next season, and whether Nicolo Zaniolo and Chris Smalling will stay at Roma.
Attacking midfielder Zaniolo saw a January move fail to come off, after he appeared to push for a transfer before hesitating when Bournemouth looked to be his likely destination.
Former Manchester United and England centre-back Smalling, who started against Empoli, is nearing the end of his contract and reports have claimed Inter and Juventus are keen on him.
Asked what Zaniolo had to do to be welcomed back into the squad, and how Smalling might be persuaded to stay with Roma, Mourinho said: "Zaniolo must do absolutely nothing, it is a problem of the club and he must solve it with the club, not with me. For Smalling, I can do nothing to convince him."
Edwards urges Luton Town to ignore scrutiny on relegation battle
Rob Edwards is keen for Luton Town to ignore the scrutiny surrounding them in the relegation battle as they prepare for another big game against Wolves.
The Hatters sit one point from safety in the relegation zone after back-to-back 5-1 defeats against Manchester City and Brentford.
While Nottingham Forest also lost last weekend, being beaten 2-0 by Everton, Burnley beat Sheffield United to move them two points behind Luton.
Asked how he is handling the pressure of the relegation battle with only four games left, Edwards said: “The stakes are high already, we all know what it means and it's really important to everyone that's in this at the moment, a number of clubs that are still fighting to try and avoid it and be in the league next season, it's so important.
“Everyone wants to try and stoke the fire I think. We've got a title race on at one end and obviously, there's a relegation battle we're involved in. It's exciting, it's good that we're in the fight, and we've got a chance to get out of it, but really, all I am concerned about right now is our performance tomorrow.”
Glasner challenges Crystal Palace to extend winning run
Oliver Glasner is hopeful that Crystal Palace can maintain their recent winning run when they travel to Fulham on Saturday.
After a run of five games without a victory, the Eagles have won each of their last three games, beating Liverpool, West Ham and Newcastle United.
Their 2-0 win over the Magpies on Wednesday also secured their Premier League safety for another season.
Glasner has given credit to his team’s attitude in turning around their recent run of form but does not want them to slow down despite reaching their goal.
He said: “The players give us confidence because they are listening. Every day we were sitting here and having a meeting and showing them videos and nobody was sleeping, so that gives us good feedback!
"Now we have 39 points and I think it shouldn't be our target to say ‘39 points, oh well done, staying in the Premier League’ because then I would say 'come on guys, go wherever you want and take vacations' – but no.
"We want to improve, we want to win games, and we have the next chance tomorrow at Fulham."
Columbus Crew v CF Montreal: Nancy proud of resilient Champions Cup performance
Wilfried Nancy was delighted with the spirit and grit his Columbus Crew team displayed as they sealed a 2-1 CONCACAF Champions Cup win over CF Monterrey.
The Crew are in a great position to progress to the Champions Cup final after their first-leg win in midweek.
Now, Nancy will turn his focus to a league clash with his former club CF Montreal, but he stressed his pride with his team for their performance against Monterrey.
“I'm really proud of the guys,” said Nancy.
“Because we did a really good game in terms of when we had the difficult moments, we were together. And when we had the ball, we tried to play our game and we had good opportunities also, and we were able to unbalance them.
“We try to convince [the squad] that when we play high-level sport, it's a game of mistakes.
The idea is no matter what happened, can we find a way to bounce back? So we work on that during the practice, but at the end of the day, you have to live this situation. And I think that we've worked upon in the past. So now they’ve been better and the chemistry is better. And they were able to sort it out.”
The Crew are the reigning MLS Cup champions, though they have drawn their last three league fixtures.
While Columbus sit fourth in the Eastern Conference, Montreal are three points back in 10th place.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Columbus Crew – Cucho Hernandez
Hernandez scored his 34th MLS goal (including playoffs) in the Crew’s draw on Saturday. Only the Philadelphia Union’s Daniel Gazdag (36) has more goals than Hernández since he made his MLS debut in July 2022.
CF Montreal – Ariel Lassiter
Lassiter put CF Montreal ahead against Orlando on Saturday with an 88th-minute goal, only to see the Lions equalize in stoppage time. It marked just the second time in club history that Montreal scored a go-ahead goal after the 75th minute but failed to win the match, also doing so against the Fire in 2017.
MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS WIN
Montreal have lost 17 of their 25 away matches in all competitions (W5 D3) dating back to the start of last season, being outscored, 56-21, in those games.
Columbus are unbeaten in 17 straight regular-season home matches (W12 D5) following a pair of draws with D.C. United and the Portland Timbers. The only longer run in club history was a 22-match streak in 2008—09.
Columbus won both of their matches against Montreal last season after winning just two of the previous eight (D2 L4). Montreal (2-1 in August 2022) are one of two visiting teams to record a win at Lower.com Field since June 2022.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Columbus Crew – 56.4%
CF Montreal – 18.6%
Draw – 25%
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