PRESS ROOM | Pisacane before Cagliari-Cremonese

Rossoblù coach Fabio Pisacane met with the media in the press room of the CRAI Sport Center to present Saturday’s match at the Unipol Domus. These are his words:

THE RETREAT AT THE CRAI SPORT CENTER
“The training camp these past few days—just like we did—was important. After eight winless games, it’s right to spend even more time together and become even more united. The training camp wasn’t a punitive decision because these guys didn’t give their all: unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to score points. Situations like this happen in this sport: we weren’t the first, and we won’t be the last team to try to recover from a situation like this by spending more time together.”

TOWARDS THE CREMONESE
Pavoletti—and obviously Felici and Idrissi—are sidelined, while the others are all available. Belotti and Borrelli have an extra week of training under their belts, and are fully recovered. Yes, the match against Cremonese is a grand final: regardless of the standings, each of us must have a strong sense of revenge, the desire to get back to scoring at all costs. I hope we can take home the full prize: in the first half in Reggio Emilia and—at times—in the second half, the team deserved more. Clearly, however, what we did didn’t help us secure a positive result. Giampaolo is a coach who needs no introduction; he’s been in this job for a long time and has earned a great deal of respect over the years. He’s had the opportunity to work with his new team for a few weeks, and I don’t think a coach like him needs much skill to make certain readings and convey certain messages to his team. It will be a tricky match; we’ve studied them carefully and will try to deploy our weapons on the pitch to win.

GIVE YOUR ALL ON THE FIELD
With seven games to go, everyone’s under pressure: for us, winning tomorrow would mean moving three points clear of them. But then there are six more games, with 18 points still up for grabs. And football is deceptive: Serie A doesn’t allow for distractions; you lose four games in a row, you don’t even realize it, and you find yourself in a completely different state of mind. That’s exactly what happened to us. We’re getting some of our strengths back, we can have more options, especially up front, where we’ve often been limited. But the difference will ultimately be made by what’s inside you, and tomorrow, if we want to win this match, we’ll have to bring out something more from within ourselves. The heat will be a factor: athletic freshness and experience will both be important.

THE TIME FOR ACTIONS
The causes of our poor run? There could be many; we’ve already discussed them. Subconsciously, we may have become too calm once we reached a certain point; we’ve had a lot of injuries; I may have been to blame for some of the decisions I’ve made. Clearly, no one would have wanted this situation. What’s certain is that when you don’t win for two months, it’s disappointing. Of the last eight games, however, we’ve only failed in two; in the others—even though we always go out there to get results—we knew we could run into difficulties. I’ve seen some good performances, however, not just against Sassuolo, but also against Napoli, for example. Now, though, there’s no time for analysis; it’s time for action.

ALL TOGETHER
“I know well, I’ve known since day one, that my role as coach is tied to achieving certain results. We weren’t great when we won, nor can we be such failures now: several factors, as I said, led us to this situation. Now we have to be able to get out of it. I took on a huge responsibility from day one, and I’m confident I can carry it out. I’m putting all my energy into giving our fans something to cheer about, making them feel their support. That’s what makes me happy. My feelings are positive. We have to get through this moment, and in the end—I’m convinced—we will triumph.

THE PLAYERS
Semih is a player who prefers to stay out of the box rather than play as a striker. He wants to be in the thick of things and can coexist with Borrelli. Esposito, even in the last match, could have scored a few more goals: he’s in good condition right now, as are others in the squad. Zappa is an important player for us; he has a sense of responsibility and a strong attachment to the shirt. He suffered an injury before the Juventus match, the team has found a tactical balance, and Zé Pedro has exploded. We’ll see who plays tomorrow. We need everyone; Gabriele has never failed to contribute and could be among those who lead us to safety. Luperto? I’ll be happy to see him again. We didn’t get along at first, but as we got to know each other, we gradually grew closer and understood each other. If I have the chance to talk to him, I’ll be happy to do so and give him a hug: he’s a guy with important values; whenever he was called upon, he tried to contribute; when he wasn’t, he was a professional. For me, that means everything.”