TRAINING AT THE STADIUM – “Yesterday we talked about this, we decided on the day but I don’t want to say it now. It will be very close to Christmas, at the stadium and with open doors. Do you have hidden cameras? Has anyone told you (laughs, ed.)? Let’s try to be better at attacking, we have to be more ambitious in front of the area, more decisive”.
DROP? – “When you see the matches, now you see Como very dominant in many aspects. The numbers we see are very important. However, from 30′ to 60′ we played a very intense match. If Diao had scored, he was in line with the defender. Morata’s three chances… after the hour mark, Morata should have scored, the team didn’t have the aggressiveness to score. Then if you want to win it without meaning, sometimes you can also lose it. But in those matches you have to score goals. We are working for this, there is a process, I showed them what they need to be. Even in exciting people. We don’t have that hunger for those who come in and want to rock. But it’s a normal thing: many times Jesus Rodriguez and Addai don’t feel it.
TURIN – “We must always face the match at our best. If you mentally think it is difficult, it certainly will be. We must win it with our cards, with what we have to offer. But be more ambitious, with more points in addition to those we have. There are many opportunities to make it 2-0 with Cremonese, in Naples the penalty, in Cagliari 3-4 opportunities to score. We must manage it better, without losing defensive stability. Torino is a team that plays with 5-3-2, with expert defenders, Asllani has scored and comes from Inter, a great player. You know Casadei, he comes from Chelsea. Adams is an international player, Ngonge is a differential player with his team, he won the championship with Napoli and I really like the team, Baroni is a great coach. The atmosphere, the stadium and the fans are also strong.
FROM CUNHA – “You’re here every week, I see that he hasn’t played almost at all in the last two games. There’s a lot of level and quality, sometimes he’ll play and sometimes he won’t. I’m happy with him, a lot, I would always take him in a team. I value him a lot. I think that in 2 years he’s missed three training sessions. It says everything about his mentality.”
HELL – “I don’t want to send him to the Africa Cup of Nations? For me it’s something without logic. He was out for 7 months, he played 3 matches, now he’s going to the national team, he gets hurt and he’ll be out. Then maybe he’ll go to Senegal again. In the player’s mind you have to do things well. For me there’s no point, they won’t care about anything, but we want the best thing for the player. He shouldn’t go. He went to training camp with Senegal with a little problem adductor and did 2 training sessions. Then he got hurt and came back here. We’ll try to get him back with Inter, but it’s more likely to have him back with Roma.”
DEAD – “Is there too much talk about it? No, not too much, this is football. Calm down, I understand everything but I would be more worried if he didn’t have opportunities to score in every game, but if you look back at all the games he played in he had at least one clear opportunity to score. It didn’t come, ok, but the opportunities were there and mathematically the goal will come. I’ve seen a thousand examples of teammates in football who sometimes didn’t get the hang of things. Henry didn’t score a goal in his first 6 months at Arsenal, then top goal scorer of Arsenal. Calm down, evaluations in the end. I have a lot of confidence.
VOJVODA – “Playoffs? It’s the pressure. It’s the best thing, it means you’re fighting for something. I prefer, as a player, to have that feeling there. To see that there are things that make you emotional. For Vojvoda, in the restaurant the other day, we saw the draw and he was very calm. For Kosovo it’s a gift, they hope to make history and surprise. Compared to Italy, there is much more pressure, for the country at a football level. Obviously there is a different pressure, but it must be faced.”
SMOOTH – “Posch and Vojvoda more functional with a low block team? It depends. Let’s not forget that we are a very offensive team, we need stability on the pitch. Especially now that we have 70-75% of ball possession. Maybe then the others start and we score goals. Posch is training very well, he scores goals with the national team, he is the full-back with the most goals we have. Vojvoda has more quality up front, in dribbling, but Smolcic has improved a lot. He is going at a high level.”
STATISTICS – “Every match is different. The statistics say that the match certainly goes that way, but this is Torino. It has players of quality and experience in Serie A. I am proud, not only for this but also for other data. Even for recovered balls, the high pressure in the opponent’s field. When you have more possession, less time you defend and less pressing actions you have. We are very tall, it is our identity and in our training model. I do very intense dribbling work. It is not better, it is not worse, it is un modello di gioco. Morata faceva già questo tipo di lavoro, prima diceva che era impossibile recuperare la palla e ora no. Metterlo in testa e motivarli. Però siamo molto all’inizio, molto lontani da quello che vogliamo fare. Sono ragazzi poi molto giovani, Baturina sta lavorando da 3 mesi, Jesus 3-4 e già stanno migliorando tanto. Baturina non è ancora entrato molto, ma tempo al tempo. Dopo si vince o si perde, lo sappiamo. Io per primo sono giudicato per il risultato. Per noi il risultato conta ma it’s not the only thing. I’m lucky to be able to say this, maybe others can’t, but we want to adapt the players in a different context to win, create a specific mentality and work culture.”
FEW GOALS – “Yesterday I hammered my players for 40 minutes. I’ve never done it, but I wanted them to be more ambitious, more effective. All of this can always be improved, but it’s normal for these young guys. Today you do what the coach tells you, but if there’s a team that takes something away from you, it’s finished. But it can’t be like that, other solutions have to be found. The more the player understands and recognizes that, however… today everything is codified, in football it can’t be like that.”
KEMPF – “He wasn’t 100%, but he was fine to come in. He didn’t train the first week, but he did a long training session yesterday. Strong, intense, I think he’s available to start again from the first minute.”
SERIES A – “Winning in Italy is very, very difficult. I don’t say it, a lot of people say it, coaches I talk to who play in the Champions League and they ask me what we’ve done or what type of team we are. Scoring here is very difficult, because of how they defend in Italy. Winning is very difficult, a very complicated championship. And to score goals, up front, you need very clear ideas. For me, Bologna is a very clear model of how to play and attack in Italy. You can’t compare the football of before to that of today. Inzaghi? He didn’t defend much, he was waiting for his moment, like my son (laughs, ed.). Now the attacker has to do much more. Now I don’t see such dominant teams, except Inter who dominate more in the league. We can see that they have a lot of strength, in many parameters and in many registers of the pitch.
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