Mourinho Rues Absence of Dybala and Pellegrini Despite Roma’s Win Over Monza

• AS Roma left it late to beat AC Monza thanks to Stephan El Shaarawy's goal
• The away team played most of the game with ten men after receiving a red card, but Roma struggled
• Jose Mourinho has named two players whose absences were felt in the team

Jose Mourinho's AS Roma side struggled to break down AC Monza and scored a late goal to win the game. The manager hinged their struggles on the absence of two players.

Roma won their fourth consecutive game in all competitions, beating AC Monza 1-0 to help them move into the top half of the Serie A table with 14 points.

Last year's Europa League finalists endured a slow start to the season but got a wake-up call after their embarrassing 4-1 loss to Genoa, after which they've won all their games.

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Football

Roma miss Dybala and Pellegrini

The Giallorossi's struggle was in their inability to retain possession. They hardly created any chances throughout the game and had a disciplined defence and goalkeeper Rui Patricio to thank for not losing.

Mourinho concluded that this was due to the absence of two players after he analysed his team's play during his post-match conference. He said, as quoted by Roma Press:

“From the point of view of possession, we’re missing Dybala and Pellegrini. We feel it. It becomes more difficult when we don’t have a number ten like Pellegrini on the pitch and a second striker like Dybala.”

Both players are out due to injuries, with the captain out for a month, while the Argentine could recover in time for next week's game against Inter Milan, per GIFN.

Jose will sit out the next two games; he will serve the third of his four-game European ban, while his red card against Monza means that he will miss the Inter trip.

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Mourinho hits back at Papu Gomez

Sports Brief reported on Mourinho's clapback at Papu Gomez after Roma's win over Monza, which the winger missed as he faces a two-year ban after a positive doping test.

The Argentine claimed his only memory of the Special One was beating him in the Europa League final last season with Sevilla. The former Chelsea boss responded by saying he would never take cough syrup, which the winger claimed he took and influenced his test results.