Rudi Garcia says his squad rotation is not to blame for Roma's contrasting results this season ahead of Wednesday's trip to Sampdoria.
The praise the Frenchman earned for his side's 1-1 draw with the Champions League holders Barcelona soon turned to criticism after the Giallorossi were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Sassuolo.
Garcia made many changes to his side for both fixtures, which has led to sections of the Italian media blaming him for the team's inconsistency.
However, the former Lille coach dismissed the criticism at his pregame news conference by saying he is not the only one to make changes to his side.
"There's no rule for it -- just look at the other sides' results when they did it: some of them won, some of them didn't," Garcia said. "That's not the problem.
"Some players didn't have enough games in their legs to be ready. If we didn't rotate the side against Sassuolo, it would have been worse for the future, if maybe we had been forced into making some changes.
"We can summarise things after we play Palermo on Oct. 4. Now let's just take the good things, like the win against Juve or the draw with Barcelona, and those things which were not so good and we see we're right on track.
"We're only four points behind Inter. Of course we had hoped to get nine points out of nine this week, considering also the Carpi game, and I am annoyed, but we've got to look forwards.
"There's no time for us to cry about the draw with Sassuolo. We've got to pick up points again immediately because the season does not end after four matches. We're like cyclists -- we've got to get our heads down and pedal hard.
"Let people think what they want -- I just look forwards."
Garcia is now likely to place his faith in Edin Dzeko to lead his side's attack, with captain Francesco Totti -- who hits his 300th Roma goal against Sassuolo -- left out with a finger injury.
German defender Antinio Rudiger has also not made Garcia's squad due to a knee injury, so Daniele De Rossi is likely to be moved back into defence with Leandro Castan not yet deemed ready for 90 minutes.
"He's not in top condition yet," Garcia added. "His enthusiasm got him ready for our first game of the season, but physically he's feeling the year out. We're waiting for him. He's going to be fundamental for us."