This is what the boss had to say:

Will you have any players returning for this game, like Paulo Dybala for example? Are you going to rotate for this one?

“The only player who might return is Dybala. We'll give him a fitness test this afternoon and see if we can have him on the bench at least. That would already be a bonus and I'm optimistic. As for rotating, today will be our first training session since our last game and it's already the day before the next one. I'll decide on the team tomorrow but there probably will be a few changes. We'll bear our opponents in mind too. We have a squad that enables us to switch things up when we need to, during the game as well.”

Massimiliano Allegri was given a two-match ban after the game on Saturday. What did you make of his post-match comments?

“I didn't hear them myself. I only know what was reported by you [the media] afterwards. We have the numbers, the reports and all the other data relating to our matches from last season, as well as those of the other teams. I haven't read a single comment in support of his claims, so I think it was just an unfortunate remark. I don't think I need to add anything else.”

Have you seen an improvement in the team's mentality since last season? If so, what is it down to?

“It's a path we're on and one we must continue along. Our goal is to improve constantly, because there's no limit to how much you can improve. We now have a clear identity, playing style and approach to games. We're able to implement it regularly and we're getting results. We want to carry on like this. The whole squad has improved, as well as many of the individual players. Most importantly, everyone around the club is driving us on to be bold, play attack-minded football and go into even the toughest of matches with the confidence that we can do well.”

Is Matias Soule one of the most-improved players in your 18 months at the club?

“Unfortunately he went through a difficult spell last season when he was sidelined for several months with that groin problem. This season he's picked up from where he left off at the midway point of last season. He produced a stunning performance the other night and he'd been playing well in the games before that too. Sometimes we forget he's still young, just 23. At his age a footballer has plenty of room for improvement in every area so he can become an even better player. That's what he's shown so far this season. He's also doing it in different positions: he can play not just on the right, but also on the left and cover the whole flank. The other night he was playing in the hole at one point, he scored a goal and did other great things. He's become more mature and more confident in his game. He loses the ball a lot less than he did in the past too, but there are other areas he still needs to work on. We believe he has plenty of margin for improvement and he works hard every day to do that. He's been called up to the Argentina squad too, which is another good sign.”

I'd like to ask you about Emanuele Lulli. Is there a reason why he hasn't played in the Champions League?

“In that position we have four players who are all doing really well at the moment. [Devyne] Rensch is performing well, Wesley is a top-class player and [Nahuel] Molina, after a settling-in period, has reached a high level of performance too. That's just the way it's panned out. I'm delighted for him because he deserves everything he's getting. The goal for everyone is to keep improving individually, because by improving individually we can become an even better team.”

Roma scored a lot but also conceded a lot of goals against Inter, Real Madrid and Napoli. Is there anything in particular that you've worked on with the players defensively or do you think certain situations came about naturally?

“We've always had a very good approach. Every goal is different. Obviously we take greater blame for the goals we conceded against Real Madrid than, for example, [Frank] Anguissa's goal at the weekend. You have to give credit to the opponent for scoring a difficult goal, in which we didn't make any particular mistakes defensively. You have to analyse the individual situations. We're not machines so we're never going to be able to repeat everything perfectly. Sometimes we make technical mistakes but our overall approach is good. We haven't conceded many goals from set-pieces and apart from in a few games we've normally been very solid. Then of course there's the opposition's quality to factor in. We've played some top-class teams with amazing players and prolific strikers. But at the same time, we managed to score two against Inter, three against Real and three against Napoli. Those are top-drawer matches in which you have to consider the quality of the opponents and the fact that they score many goals.”

Do you substitute defenders with the aim of hurting opponents going forward or out of necessity?

“It's lots of things. Nowadays we have five subs available – which is a lot – so it can happen that you need to substitute defenders. Your opponents can bring on quality players with fresh legs, and a defender who has already played 70 minutes can find it hard. Against Real Madrid for example, [Mario] Hermoso had to defend against [Yan] Diomande and Vinicius and then Endrick came on. In situations like that, it's quite normal to make a defensive substitution. With five subs, you sometimes need fresh players not just in attack but in defence too. It's also true that our defenders are getting forward and scoring goals at the moment. Players like Hermoso, [Evan] Ndicka, [Gianluca] Mancini and [Leonardo] Balerdi are very effective in the air. They're part of our attacking play, not just from set-pieces but from open play too. Our defenders can be very useful when they push up, with their physicality and especially in the air. They can catch out opponents, find space and sometimes have a better chance of scoring.”

Where do you think your team is at after drawing with Inter, Como and Napoli?

“They were three very different games, very good games and very evenly balanced. Looking at our overall performances, I think we came away from all three in a very good place. I'd say we did a little more than our opponents – we certainly weren't inferior to them. Naturally, they're our direct rivals, together with Atalanta, who we beat. It's true that we didn't manage to win those games but nor were they able to beat us. Perhaps we were lacking a little something to win at least one of those games but overall I think we've done very well.”

What do you think Roma need to be able to win that type of game?

“They're very tight affairs which are often decided by a piece of individual skill or superior finishing. We found ourselves 2-0 down against Napoli and it looked like a very tricky game but we managed to get back in it. At that point, we felt confident we could go on and win it, but then we fell behind again. We thought we'd lost the game but we managed to level the scores again. That shows you that games can veer off in completely different directions due to the quality and skill of individual players. The same thing happened against Inter and Real Madrid. That's why we need to analyse our performances over the 90 minutes. And it's true that in the 90 minutes we ran into some difficulties caused by our opponents' quality, but all things told Roma came out of them in a good place. Looking at both sides, we come away knowing that we matched some fantastic teams, without being inferior in any way.”

How are Manu Kone and Mile Svilar doing?

“I doubt we'll have Kone back before the international break but Svilar could take a step towards us this week, on Thursday or Friday. We might have him available again next week. Hopefully we can get him back for Manchester or for Sassuolo at least.”

Have you noticed any areas where Roma are coming up short in these head-to-head matches?

“They're great teams for a start. Napoli have won two league titles in recent years, they have a well-established squad and they play in the Champions League with top-quality players. We have to focus on ourselves, without thinking too much about other teams. We must focus on improving ourselves one game at a time, then we'll see how we measure up against other sides.

“We've had to make do without several key players recently – Svilar, [Bryan] Cristante, Dybala, Kone, Pellegrini... Fortunately, despite all these difficulties, we've managed to keep up the pace, keep knocking out results and performing at a high level. When you have everyone available you have a stronger team and more options, but over the course of the season it can happen to any team to lose players and go through rough patches. A lot of it is down to the fact we're playing matches every three days. Tomorrow it's time to play again. We've spoken about this lots of times before but there's not much we can do. With such a packed fixture list, it's not unusual to get one player back and lose another one. That's something you have to bear in mind from the start of the season.

Roma often press the ball carrier aggressively high up the pitch. How much do you work on that?

“I think it's something that's been part of our game for a long time. It's not always possible to implement it, but the idea is to try and win the ball back as high as possible, even within the opposition area, and it's something we often manage to do.”