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Mourinho wants a striker despite Roma’s opening day win

Mourinho wants a striker despite Roma's opening day win

Roma began their 2022/2023 campaign with a 1-0 win over Salernitana at Stadio Arechi.

A first-half strike from Bryan Cristante was all Roma needed to pick up their first three points of the new season. The result maintains Mourinho’s opening day unbeaten record in the Italian Serie A.

While the scoreline looks close on paper, Roma should have won by a larger margin. New signing Paulo Dybala hit the post and missed a couple of big chances.

Nicolo Zaniolo was also guilty of missing three golden opportunities, while Tammy Abraham could also have had a goal to himself.

However, despite their wastefulness in front of goal, Mourinho was full of praise for his players, saying they controlled the game well, even though they could have won by three goals.

“I liked everything. Obviously, I would’ve been happier to win 3-0 or 4-0, but I liked seeing the team that didn’t score the goals it should’ve done, yet still had the maturity to control the situation,” Mourinho said after the game.

“Usually, when you waste three or four chances, it ends badly, but in this case, we did not even suffer.

Dybala and Zaniolo could’ve had a couple of goals each, but I also cannot say they did not have a fantastic game,” he added.

But while Mourinho praised his attackers, the former Chelsea man hinted that they still need a striker. Mourinho took off Dybala, Zaniolo and Abraham in the game, but he replaced the latter two with Matic and Wijnaldum.

It was a substitution that surprised many, but Mourinho said he had no choice as he had limited striking options on the bench. The ex-Manchester United insists The Yellow and Reds still need to bring in a striker before the window closes.

“There was evident fatigue, so the players I replaced them with – Matic, Wijnaldum – were not there to kill the game, they were there to control the situation,” Mourinho continued.

“If you ask me, would I prefer to have strikers of the same level that I can replace the others with, of course, I would. That is what Manchester City, Liverpool and a few Italian clubs can do,” The Portuguese tactician concluded.

Roma are still in the market for a striker, though. The Europa Conference League champions are currently working on a deal to sign Italy striker Andrea Belotti on a free transfer.

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