Roma general manager Franco Baldini has asked the club’s fans to give boss Luis Enrique time after the former Barcelona man has endured a difficult start to his Giallorossi reign.
Since Enrique arrived in the summer he has completely overhauled the first team, bringing in the likes of Erik Lamela, Pablo Osvaldo, Bojan Krkic, Miralem Pjanic, Fernando Gago and Maarten Stekelenburg.
Immediate success was expected but the new players have struggled to gel and Roma suffered their fifth defeat of the season against AC Milan on Saturday.
The fans have thus far been patient with Enrique, and Baldini, appointed general manager last week, has pre-empted any murmurings of discontent by urging them to continue to stick by the embattled boss.
“We are a young team and it’s going to take patience,” Baldini said. “The important thing is to grow, which we can only do through good football. Luis Enrique has the full faith of the club and we’ll carry on along this path. The Giallorossi crowd have realised the value of our project. We want to build a great squad and the future is ours. At the moment, though, we cannot afford to sign big champions. If we lose, then the fans are only right to protest, but I am happy with their attitude.”