AS Roma boss Jose Mourinho urges Tammy Abraham to back up goals by dropping back
- Seb Sternik
- 13 September 2022
England international Tammy Abraham scored the winning goal as Roma continued their strong start to the Serie A campaign with victory at 10-man Empoli.
Abraham tucked away a smart finish to secure a 2-1 win to take Jose Mourinho's side to within a point of the summit.
Paulo Dybala hit the post before opening the scoring with a fine finish, with Filippo Bandinelli's header drawing the hosts level moments before half-time.
Abraham restored Roma's advantage as he put away Dybala's cross, and Lorenzo Pellegrini then hit the crossbar from the penalty spot before Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro was dismissed late on for a dangerous challenge on Chris Smalling.
When asked about Abraham's performance, the Portuguese manager told Sky Sports Italia: "He has to do it. He has to drop deep when the team needs him. Maybe he can struggle more mentally to do it, but that is also the mission.
"I must say that scoring goals against Vicario was difficult, he looked like the best goalkeeper in the world."
Looking back at the result, Mourinho believes his side had to suffer to secure all three points against Empoli.
"We could've won in another way, with more tranquillity. If we were 3-1 up we could've managed it better ahead of Thursday. But the important thing is to win again.
"We suffered, seven minutes of extra time for a team that wins is a lot but we managed it well.
"I want to congratulate Zanetti because his Empoli team were tough to play against, but in the end we deserved the victory."
