'We did not play well'- Mourinho gives honest assessment as Sampdoria frustrate 'tired' Roma

Jose Mourinho has provided an honest assessment of his club's performance following a frustrating final match of the year at home to Sampdoria.

Mourinho and his AS Roma side were held to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olympico on Wednesday evening.

After a goalless opening half at the Olympico, substitute, Eldor Shomurodov, put the home side ahead five minutes after coming on. But he was denied all the glory by a late Manolo Gabbiadini goal which ensured that the spoils were shared between the two.

Speaking after the match, the former Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea boss admitted that while his boys deserved to win the game, they didn't play well and looked tired.

"I’m not sure we showed much patience. We did not play well," Mourinho told the club website.

"We deserved to win, yes, mainly because of the way we played in the second half before we made it 1-0 and then after it was 1-1."

"We tried, we played with intensity and we tried to win and we dominated the play without creating too many clear chances. But it was an ugly game, because the side that wanted to win it didn’t play well and the side that didn’t want to win played the way they did and got rewarded or that with a point."

"In the first half, the team seemed a bit slow and lacking courage, they struggled to find the right angles to press high and when we did have the ball there was a lack of concentration – losing the ball a lot through silly mistakes.

"Sometimes these things are down to tiredness, if not a lack of quality. So it could have been tiredness. To sum it up, we deserved to win but we didn’t play well."

Roma dominated the encounter at the Olympico with both sides creating enough chances to have taken all three points on offer. However, it was Sampdoria's goalkeeper, Waldimir Falcone, who looked the busier of the two.

The away side have their goalkeeper to thank as Falcone produced some excellent saves to keep his team in the game. Notable amongst the saves include the 36-year-old's double saves to deny Nicolo Zaniolo and then, Felix Afena Gyan, the Ghanaian youngster.

With the result, Roma finish 2021 on sixth in the Seria A on 32 points, six points off the last UEFA Champions League spot while Sampdoria are 15th with 20 points.

The club will be back in action on January 6 2022 when they face AC Milan in a pulsating tie at San Siro.