Mourinho laments 'horrible' first half as Roma suffer upset Coppa Italia
Jose Mourinho said Roma deserved to pay for a 'horrendous' first-half performance in Wednesday's upset 2-1 Coppa Italia quarter-final loss to Cremonese.
Cremonese - who are winless in Serie A this season - took a two-goal lead at Roma thanks to Cyriel Dessers' penalty and Zeki Celik's own goal, before holding on after Andrea Belotti had some removed one late in the game.
Having also stunned Napoli in the previous round, Cremonese became the first promoted Serie A team to reach the Coppa Italia last four since Cagliari in the 2004-05 campaign.
Mourinho made a remarkable quadruple half-time substitution after storming the tunnel early, and he said the Giallorossi couldn't complain after their disastrous start.
"Congratulations to Cremonese. They had two great wins against Napoli and Roma, it's a strange cup that favors smaller teams, they have even more credit for that," he said.< /p>
"They are deserved in the semi-finals, we are having a horrible, low level first half.
"I can say that this team struggles with rotation, with three games in a week, but let's think about this one game, and in the first half, we deserved to pay the price.
>"Football is like that, it happens with the best teams and with the small teams. At Napoli [in Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Napoli] we deserved better and I was proud of that, even after the defeat.
"Today I can't say, others can comment. My job is to think about the next game.
"After more than a thousand games as a manager, I prefer to be objective and say that we played badly and we paid. We are a team and I don't want to hold one person accountable."
Mourinho was also asked about Nicolo Zaniolo, who asked to be welcomed back into the fold via an open letter on Wednesday after asking for a transfer during the January transfer window.
After describing the likelihood of Zaniolo staying at the Stadio Olimpico as "unfortunate" last week, Mourinho was unwilling to discuss the 23-year-old's future, saying: "The ownership was very clear and I will not make any kind of comment."
Jose Mourinho said Roma deserved to pay for a 'horrendous' first-half performance in Wednesday's upset 2-1 Coppa Italia quarter-final loss to Cremonese.
Cremonese - who are winless in Serie A this season - took a two-goal lead at Roma thanks to Cyriel Dessers' penalty and Zeki Celik's own goal, before holding on after Andrea Belotti had some removed one late in the game.
Having also stunned Napoli in the previous round, Cremonese became the first promoted Serie A team to reach the Coppa Italia last four since Cagliari in the 2004-05 campaign.
Mourinho made a remarkable quadruple half-time substitution after storming the tunnel early, and he said the Giallorossi couldn't complain after their disastrous start.
"Congratulations to Cremonese. They had two great wins against Napoli and Roma, it's a strange cup that favors smaller teams, they have even more credit for that," he said.< /p>
"They are deserved in the semi-finals, we are having a horrible, low level first half.
"I can say that this team struggles with rotation, with three games in a week, but let's think about this one game, and in the first half, we deserved to pay the price.
>"Football is like that, it happens with the best teams and with the small teams. At Napoli [in Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Napoli] we deserved better and I was proud of that, even after the defeat.
"Today I can't say, others can comment. My job is to think about the next game.
"After more than a thousand games as a manager, I prefer to be objective and say that we played badly and we paid. We are a team and I don't want to hold one person accountable."
Mourinho was also asked about Nicolo Zaniolo, who asked to be welcomed back into the fold via an open letter on Wednesday after asking for a transfer during the January transfer window.
After describing the likelihood of Zaniolo staying at the Stadio Olimpico as "unfortunate" last week, Mourinho was unwilling to discuss the 23-year-old's future, saying: "The ownership was very clear and I will not make any kind of comment."
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