Mourinho takes swipe at smaller clubs and coaches as Roma return to winning ways

Roma manager Jose Mourinho took aim at smaller clubs after his team returned to winning ways on Monday night.

The Giallorossi were coming into their game against Empoli off the back of two straight defeats. A 4-0 loss at Udinese at the start of the month was followed by defeat against Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad in their Europa League group stage opener.

Roma were made to work hard for their win at Stadio Carlo Castellani, with Paulo Dybala and Tammy Abraham finding the net either side of a Filippo Bandinelli effort for the hosts. Lorenzo Pellegrini's penalty miss denied the visitors a chance to extend their lead, but the 2-1 margin was enough in the end.

"In the last ten minutes we have suffered, 7 minutes of recovery are a lot, it seemed to never end," Mourinho told Sky Sport after the game (via Gianluca di Marzio ). "Congratulations to [Empoli manager Paolo] Zanetti, a difficult team to face but we deserved to win.

"The small [teams]? They have grown, today it is easier to coach. Internet and Instagram can be copied. There is no longer copyright in football," the former Chelsea manager continued.

"Obviously Udinese away from home is always difficult, but the championship is a competitive marathon, it's tough. Today with a little more bad luck we would have lost another two points."

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The result lifted Roma back up to fifth in the Serie A table, just a point behind league leaders Napoli. Empoli, meanwhile, are down in 16th and still waiting for their first win of the season, with four draws and two defeats to their name after finishing 14th last term.

Abraham, who scored 27 goals in all competitions last season, had scored just once this term before netting on Monday night. However, the English striker gave credit to his teammates after helping secure the three points.

"Empoli? This year they are doing well, they are organised; we came from two defeats in a row, we needed to regain confidence.," Abraham said.

"Today there were exceptional individual performances, from Ibanez to Matic, but also Celik, beyond beyond me and Dybala who scored. There are many things to be proud of tonight.

"Happy with the performance? I have to keep improving, I have recovered from an injury, I am quite satisfied."

Next up for Roma is a return to European competition on Thursday, with HJK of Finland coming to the Stadio Olimpico in the Europa League. Their final game before the international break will come on Sunday, at home to an Atalanta team currently sitting second in Serie A after four wins and two draws from their first six league outings.

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