Soccer Football - Serie A - Napoli v AS Roma - Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples, Italy - November 24, 2024 AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri reacts REUTERS/Ciro De Luca
NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) - AS Roma manager Claudio Ranieri praised his team's hunger and determination as he began his third stint in charge at the club with a narrow 1-0 Serie A defeat at Napoli on Sunday.
Ranieri, who came out of retirement to take the reins at Roma, saw his side suffer defeat courtesy of a goal from Romelu Lukaku, who played for the capital club last season.
The 73-year-old agreed to take charge of his childhood club until the end of the season after Roma sacked their second manager of the campaign earlier this month.
"If we look back, we have some problems and that is why I was called. We were up against a team that is fighting to win the Scudetto," Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
"Having said all of that, I am happy with the performance from my players. We made some mistakes that we will talk about during the week, but the hunger, the determination to get back on track was there.
"We have a lot of work to do, but I feel positive."
Ranieri has a challenging task ahead with Roma in 12th place on 13 points, 16 behind leaders Napoli.
"We know there is work to be done, we have to focus on reacting rather than sitting there feeling sorry for ourselves," Ranieri said.
"They (players) need the right character to help themselves and then others. Naturally, when I arrived, the team was a little closed up, but I think we started to open up a bit by the second half."
Roma will next play at Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League on Thursday, before hosting Atalanta in Serie A on Dec. 2.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
