Luciano Spalletti offered no excuses after Roma's 4-1 thrashing by Fiorentina last night.

"When Fiorentina went 2-0 up it showed the period we're going through, where we are a little fragile in psychological terms and tend to let our heads drop. It all got even more difficult after the red card," he said of David Pizarro's dismissal.

"Clearly these are important games and so consequently we are under a lot of pressure. This season has constantly been an uphill struggle and a reaction can happen."

Pizarro picked up the 12th red card for Roma this season and this loss of focus has been a continual problem.

"I am the Coach and it's only right that I am given responsibility for that. They are repeat offenders. I don't know what they said to each other, but they went head-to-head and the referee thought it opportune to flash the yellow card."

After that dismissal, Fiorentina ran riot to win 4-1 at the Stadio Franchi, effectively ruling Roma out of the race for fourth place.

"I find it difficult to explain this result, as I did not see such a huge difference between the two teams," insisted Spalletti.

"We conceded with the first shot on goal, then we took the initiative for the rest of the first half and created many important scoring opportunities with [Matteo] Brighi and [Julio] Baptista.

"The second half started the same way, but I still saw the team right in there and ready to fight for the result.

"Unfortunately in football sometimes an inch can make the difference and this is when you need the psychological strength to battle through, something we have tended to lack.

"All these games we ended up with 10 men and for too long we have been playing without the two first choice centre-backs.

"We have not been able to make up for those gaps, especially against a side like Fiorentina of immense quality."