The coach on the eve of the home match against Genoa: “Gilardino’s team is a complicated opponent. Top four? Bologna and Atalanta will come to play here… Victor traveled for three days, I have to talk to him”
“I’ve never made tables in my life, I just have to think about winning as many races as possible”. Thus Walter Mazzarri begins, repeating the mantra so dear to coaches and players of thinking one challenge at a time. In the press conference preceding the match with Genoa, the coach indulged in cautious optimism. “We are more confident of achieving more victories because now the squad is complete. Seven points are a lot, but it all depends on us: the teams ahead of us in the standings will have to come and play in Naples, like Bologna and Atalanta. Obviously hoping that our competitors don’t win and achieving some sensational results away from home. We can believe it because we have 45 points available. The group must know that we will do everything to get back into the top four, we are capable of it and we must all take on these responsibilities. We will try to do until the end what we have not managed to do so far. The players also suffer from not replicating the great things of last year. After the victory in Bergamo I no longer had Elmas, Olivera and many others. The only completely wrong match was the one against Torino, for the rest we played with a few episodes against us.”
opponents
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Gilardino’s Genoa is one of the most interesting teams in this Serie A. “It has important players like Malinovskyi and Messias, strong attackers. It is a delicate and difficult challenge, on which we must remain focused without looking far ahead. I take this opportunity to appeal to the public to help us out for 95 minutes tomorrow because I foresee another complicated match. We have a paper calendar within reach, and it’s the truth. Everyone faces us to do the feat against the reigning champions. I’ve never spoken to anyone about Barcelona, I can’t do more than that, it depends on their maturity. Compared to last year we are scoring fewer points and we can’t make mistakes.” The great unknown concerns Victor Osimhen, but Mazzarri does not dispel any doubts. “I’ll talk to him later and we’ll understand how he is, we spoke for a long time during this period. I’m waiting for him for the afternoon training. It’s in doubt because the last time he was mushy. He’s been traveling for three days, I don’t want to defend him but it’s something objective. He will be tired and may be out of shape. As a coach, beyond the fact that he is a champion, I must respect those who work here every day.”
Forms and identities
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Regarding modules and identities, the coach takes the opportunity to respond to some observations made to him. “Last time I said that having had some time available there was the possibility of working on three modules: 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 3-5-2. On a tactical level I think I know them all. We should stop thinking about last year and focus only on the present, and possibly make criticisms based on that. Kvaratskhelia has had more difficulty breaking free lately because she suffers doubles, now we have changed her position with good results. So, given that there are three similar setups, it is an advantage to be able to change during the race if the guys feel ready. I won’t tell you how we will leave. I believe that against Milan, apart from the huge mistake on the goal conceded, we played an excellent match, we didn’t deserve to lose with both modules used.” The mixed performance could put him into question, however Mazzarri prefers to focus only on his work. “In the 23 years that I have been coaching, I have seen all sorts of things. I know there are repressed people who have worked in football and can’t get back. Then there are some criticisms that I take into consideration, but I understand when they are made to speak badly of a person. I’m focused on making the players perform as well as possible, after all I don’t care much.”
Singles
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At the end of the conference, the coach took stock of the situation on several individuals. “Traorè has grown, he has done a mini-preparation and has achieved a decent amount of playing time, so I have to evaluate whether he will play from the start or during the match, but the time has come to try him. I want to fully recover it because we will need it from here to the end. In terms of characteristics, if he is well, he is a left midfielder like Zielinski or Elmas. He could also be an attacking midfielder, if we did the 4-2-3-1 he would be behind the striker. Speaking of Zielinski, I have to evaluate from time to time how he is in his head, because he could already be projected elsewhere. It is impossible for him to be as focused as last year”. We then move on to Natan and Meret, two players who were originally starters. “Natan was out of action for two months, I’m convinced that he is at a good point and is ready to return, then we’ll see. For Alex I have to talk about it with the goalkeeping coach, he has trained regularly and based on what I see I will decide whether he returns tomorrow or we will wait a few more days.” It ends with Lindstrom, who demands more space. “If he were to play, who should I remove? His role is that of Kvaratskhelia on the left, because on the right he doesn’t perform the same. He must find a precise dimension. Since there is Georgian, it is not easy to find space and I am looking for where to use it, recently I have always used it”.
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