SPALLETTI: "WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN MORE RISKS"
Luciano Spalletti was pleased with his team's disciplined showing but stressed that the Giallorossi needed to take more risks in attack: "We played well in terms of our structure and gave little away but we weren't adventurous enough," began Spalletti in his post-match analysis. "We should have been better at getting forward and playing with positivity and courage. We should have taken more risks."
What was the team lacking in particular?
"We have to learn to keep things tighter and stave off attacks. The defensive line needs to be higher and we have to go deeper in behind. There are a lot of aspects we can improve upon, including in defence. Moral is low at the moment as well and that doesn't help you to keep on pumping the legs."
Why did the team appear constrained?
"It's obvious that the mental side of things is crucial in an environment like ours. When there's excitement around the team, you have the support of the fans. On the other hand, when things are negative you feel the weight of it on top of you. I'll say again that we should have taken more risks, gone straight for the opposition, won more challenges and been braver at creating numerical advantages in their half of the pitch. At the same time, we had to be good at taking up our defensive positions. We didn't do that for their goal, which started from a counter-attack."
What positives can be drawn?
"There's something to be said about the fact that we went about this match in the right way but that's little comfort for me. We needed to increase our tempo and character faster."
Is third place the objective now rather than the Scudetto?
"From my point of view, the objective is bring moral back to the team and give them a mindset that allows us to win games. Any other conversation is useless otherwise."
What meaning do you attach to this game?
"This was a very important game for us, more important than all the others. At the same time, we've recently started a job that will last five months and regardless of the results we pick up, we won't stop working hard as a team in this period."
Will we see the same formation used against Juventus again?
"It's something that we're working on and we might come back to it in the future. We need to learn to make it ours. I think there are some quality coaches this year in Italy, who are adding something different to how we interpret tactical set-ups. Paulo Sosa is a good example of this, as are Marco Giampaolo and Maurizio Sarri. Their teams know how to find the key to matches and that's what we need to learn to do as well."
(Photo LaPresse)
