Mourinho fills up on Mourinho as he urges his Roma players to 'be clowns' and start 'diving'

AS Roma boss Jose Mourinho has told his players to start diving after his side were denied a penalty against Atalanta on Sunday.

The Giallorossi were beaten 1-0 by Gian Piero Gasperini's side at the Stadio Olimpico.

After the worst 6-2 win ever, we have to ask ourselves: are Spurs good or crap or what? We really don't know

The result leaves Roma sixth in Serie A, while Atalanta are second, tied on points with leaders Napoli.

Following a collision in the box between Nicolo Zaniolo of Roma and Caleb Okoli of Atalanta which did not result in a penalty, Mourinho was sent off by referee Daniele Chiffi for dissent.

The way of his dissent? Running around the pitch complaining while looking like you could kill the referee.

After the result, Mourinho suggested that the result could have been different if Zaniolo had dropped to the ground.

The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager then spoke to the referee and as a result has now told his players to act like 'clowns' by taking a 'dive' when possible .

"There was a very clear penalty," Mourinho said. "I then asked the referee why, and I asked him to be clear with me that it was because Zaniolo had not fallen.

"So I have to change my advice to my players, I have to tell them not to try to stand, not to play ball, to be a clown like many of those who dive like them in a swimming pool do in this league, because that's obviously how you get penalties.”

Summer rookie Paolo Dybala missed the match after suffering an injury in the warm-up.

And Mourinho thinks his side have missed the 28-year-old Argentine a lot.

"It went badly because we lost a game which we should have won easily, given the way we played," added Mourinho.

"If we can imagine that dominance we had in the final third, with many chances created, we can assume that with Paulo on the pitch it could have been different."

Roma striker Tammy Abraham has been called up by England manager Gareth Southgate for this month's international break.

The 24-year-old has been excellent in Italy since leaving Chelsea last year.

He is surely a shoo-in to be named in Southgate's World Cup squad for this winter's tournament in Qatar.

This month's break is the last before the tournament kicks off in November.

England take on Germany and Italy in the Nations League before taking on Wales, Iran and the United States in the World Cup.