(Reuters) – New AS Roma coach Ivan Juric said his players were disappointed by the sacking of Daniele De Rossi, but he was pleased with their performance as they clinched their first Serie A win of the season by beating Udinese 3-0 on Sunday.
De Rossi, who spent nearly two decades at Roma as a player, was sacked on Wednesday after his team failed to win any of their first four league games. Former Torino coach Juric was appointed as his replacement.
Roma’s CEO Lina Souloukou stepped down on Sunday due to the fans’ anger over De Rossi’s sacking.
“Upon becoming coach I saw that some of the guys here were extremely disappointed about Daniele’s sacking,” Juric told Sky Sports.
“They were very honest with me in telling me that they were very upset about him being fired. It’s something I really appreciated, because sometimes players hide such emotions.
“In the last few days they have worked well and put in many hours… I really liked how the team responded, especially in the first half.”
Roma, who have six points from five matches, host Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League on Thursday, before facing Venezia in Serie A on Sunday.
“We’ve got a large squad which allows me to shake things up. In the next two weeks we’ll see a lot of rotation,” Juric added.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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