11.50 – The press conference will begin in a few minutes Alessio Dionisicoach of Sassuolowho will speak from the Mapei Football Center press room to present the next match against Napoli. Start expected at 12.
12.07 – The conference begins.
You have seen adaptability and availability with Udinese: is it another road for Sassuolo that you have discovered and can you take against Napoli?
“I agree, I feel a little more restrained in saying that we have to prove that we are these. It would be a great success, as a team, to recognize ourselves not only for the game but also for these aspects. All coaches would like a team that play and suffer and defend together. We have few doubts about playing but we shouldn’t forget that the identity of a team also means making us available, as we have seen in the last few games. All this may not be enough tomorrow because we are talking about Napoli’s crazy numbers but on our part there should be a very small ‘presumption’ of thinking we can beat Napoli knowing it won’t be easy. In the first leg we were good at attacking but not at finishing and less good at defending ourselves, we’ll have to be better.”
What must Sassuolo not do?
“If we think we have a single match plan, Napoli will overturn it because Napoli decides a lot on the pitch and you have to be good at adapting, it being understood that I am convinced that we too will be able to determine some things but we will have to be good at modeling ourselves on the basis of that we think we can do and what Napoli will do. We will have to be good at staying in the matches that will be created in the matches. We cannot concede the ball to Napoli for the whole match, if you do that you lose, even mentally, because they know how to do a lot things and you have to think about putting them in difficulty and our qualities can do it, surely they have the qualities to do it in turn”.
Is Bajrami deputy Berardi?
“He has different qualities, he played the role well. Bajrami could be Berardi’s assistant if Berardi isn’t there… We have to train today, finish tomorrow, we’ll evaluate between today and tomorrow”.
Did you think of anything specific behind it?
“We ‘gave’ Udinese two goals, thanks to them who created but we could have done better. We defended the first goal from kick-off with superficiality, we don’t even talk about the second and we didn’t defend and we have to do better if we want to. get a positive result tomorrow”.
Mister, does anything change in facing a Napoli so advanced in the standings?
“It’s not that I like it so much right now because we have our own identity, we’ve played better games, others less so, but as a team identity we have to recognize each other and I expect the team to have courage in the game and to be a team until the end. We’ll have to be better than in the last two matches against Napoli, we started with the handicap. We will have to be courageous with the ball and a team without, even before a team without, but at the same time if you don’t have the awareness/presumption to say I can score them, we have the qualities to do it, we have to try”.
You and Spalletti won in Empoli, Sarri, Andreazzoli were there… do you dream of retracing that career?
“I’ve heard a lot about them because I’ve been to Empoli after them, now I continue to follow them. I was lucky enough to face them, tomorrow we will face Napoli coached by Spalletti. I don’t like making comparisons, the coaches get results primarily for quality of the players. They are very good coaches, Sarri and Spalletti I can take as models, I appreciate them both, they are not the only ones but I appreciate them.”
Are you expecting a Napoli distracted from the Champions League?
“I expect a Napoli that goes on every pitch to win, now they play every match to win as it should be. From a certain point of view, I expect an aggressive Napoli, this will put us in difficulty but will allow us to have situations”.
Is Sassuolo in the fight for salvation?
“We are close to the teams in front of us and also to those behind us. Of course we are, we haven’t recovered but regardless one must understand what the daily goal is, the awareness that we are acquiring by removing the presumption we had to fight and to take the one in front”.
Could the 4-0 in the first leg be a further stimulus for you? Could there be a desire for revenge for that result, which, seeing how the match went, was undeserved?
“Maybe! That match was marred by an excellent start from Napoli and one that wasn’t effective for us in defence. We created the conditions to score goals, then we didn’t succeed and Napoli won deservedly because they did better. the score had been a bit wide. With Napoli we have scored fewer points since I’ve been here, there must be the will to change this knowing that Napoli are not unbeatable”.
On the outward journey you suffered the depth of Osimhen and she rightly said: “Who is it that does not suffer the depth of Osimhen?”. Can Ruan Tressoldi be the key player to stop or in any case limit the Nigerian forward, also due to his structure and characteristics?
“He limits himself by putting pressure on him, trying to dirty his trajectory, playing as a team. I don’t know who plays, but we certainly have qualities in some players that can limit Osimhen. We have to limit Napoli as a team and put them in difficulty as a team, if then in the team the singles are lenders, we have qualities to defend and attack. the defenders of Serie A. Even in the middle of the pitch we have good players, if they are good without the ball they will be good with the ball too. You don’t win individually. We need the team so that the individual can possibly limit an individual. We can limit them, from team we can do it”.
In the top 5 leagues, only Toni Kroos has completed more passes than Lobotka, who has 94.3% of successful passes. He said that the attention towards him has grown and that there is always a man following him. Will she do that too? Did you study anything in particular for Lobotka?
“Important player, thanks to the team. Successful passes also depend on the difficulty of the pass, it also depends on the situations. Many times Napoli don’t face them openly and they are allowed horizontal passes. As a team we can limit them, if we think we can going on the pitch individually we don’t have great chances of achieving results, if we go on the pitch as a team we will be able to limit them and among them is Lobotka He is doing well, I imagine he will play, our goal is to try not to make him the source of play for 95 minutes”.
Will you ask midfield to help double up Kvara?
“We’ll play two or three in the middle of the pitch, it depends on the situations. We’re trying to make the midfield more flexible, sometimes if you’re not good at getting yourself right, Napoli then catch you on the restart. We’ll have to be good in thinking we have to run, Kvara will have opportunities but we will have to limit or not allow two against one for them, the goal is to get there on an equal footing, a midfielder or a winger will have to give equal, if we carry the defender it becomes difficult to have superiority or equal in the area. It’s difficult to always be well positioned in every situation. I am convinced that we will play a vigorous game.”
Is Laurienté learning to do these things?
“It is already important for a player to recognize certain things. What is the risk, that if he takes care of an aspect that he neglected, neglected so much, he could then lose something else where he excels. He must continue to do what he is doing, working and improving. He yes he’s applying himself, he’s doing his best, he can do more, I expect the best if he plays tomorrow”.
Will Maxime Lopez play?
“There are two workouts to go, the coach slowly gets an idea, in previous matches, for example, I changed due to various vicissitudes. It could be because Maxime is an important player, we finally got him back and the best way to get him back is to I’m not sure he’ll play, it will be from the match I really think so, whether we’ll see during the game or from the start, I’m not certain”.
Did you expect this streak of 4 consecutive useful results?
“I’ll answer with a joke: we’ve scored 8 points in 4 games but also 8 in 5, it depends on your point of view. If you want to see the glass half empty, we’ve scored 8 points since the beginning of 2023. attitude, then let’s see who’s better. On paper we know it, but there’s one thing: we have good players, if we’re a team we too can be better.”
12.30 – End the press conference.
