PRESS ROOM | Pisacane before Cagliari-Lecce

Fabio Pisacane presents the match between Cagliari and Lecce, scheduled for Monday, September 7th at 6:30 PM at the Unipol Domus. Following their elimination from the Coppa Italia, the Rossoblu coach demands an immediate response from the team, without excuses and without forgetting the path established last season. His remarks focused on the topic of mentality, the development of new arrivals, and the need to maintain the enthusiasm that, for Pisacane, must be a key characteristic of his Cagliari.

FURY AS IDENTITY
“This team has had a year to create a fury, otherwise we wouldn’t have achieved last season’s objective. This is a characteristic that Cagliari imposes on us. Without fury, it’s difficult to see Cagliari through and achieve results.” This is an aspect the coach now considers part of the group’s heritage: “We coached it a year ago, and I think it came out in many moments last season. Today, it’s part of these guys.”

THE RESPONSE AFTER THE COPPA ITALIA
“The Coppa Italia hurt me, as it hurt everyone. But it shouldn’t confuse us. We have to represent a people and we can’t be happy with the last match.” Pisacane doesn’t even look for excuses in the presence of so many new players: “Cagliari exists, not old and new players. We’re not starting from scratch, and if we had a first half like that, the responsibility is entirely mine. Putting eight new players together could have created difficulties, but if you don’t take advantage of these moments, when will you? The guys who were already in training camp gave us a huge hand in helping the new players settle in.”

CONFIDENCE AND GROWTH
“I don’t like talking about failures after a first half. The decisions and substitutions, both last year and this season, made the difference. Looking back and thinking about last year’s match against Frosinone, we had a similar first half. The boys have confidence; they need to make mistakes, but to make mistakes, they have to play. Balance also starts with not failing these guys, so they can grow. I would make the same decisions again.”

MASSOLIN, QUALITY TO BE EXPECTED
Among the new arrivals, Pisacane focuses on Massolin: “He hasn’t played a single game in preseason and needs to get into shape. He has an imposing physique, he needs to increase his load and accelerate his development, but we need to wait. He has important qualities in his feet. From midfield on up, he’s his zone; he can also play as a midfielder. I’m confident; we wanted him, and I’m sure he’ll bring us great results.”

WINKS, THE TEAM’S BRAIN
“He’s a player with unique qualities. It’s hard to imagine a player being equally effective in both areas: there are players around him who do different jobs. He’s the brain of the team. Perhaps, by playing more, he’ll find better condition, and that’s also why I decided to play him in the Cup. We need to be balanced in our assessments: he’s the playmaker that Cagliari has been missing for years. He needs support; I’m not asking him to score fourteen goals.”

BORRELLI’S FAREWELL
«Last year he arrived almost afraid of the impact with Serie A. He was good at overcoming this obstacle and also did excellent things. Five goals in the first year are not few. He asked me if he was the owner I was looking for. I told him that he was an arrow in our bow, but we wanted to intervene in that department with a player who could perhaps score with greater continuity. Last year we struggled in attack, between Belotti’s injury and Kilicsoy’s lack of continuity. Borrelli had raised expectations after his five goals and, due to personal needs, asked to go somewhere else.”

MENDY AND THE NEED FOR A OFFENSIVE PARTNER
«Last year everything he did was for profit. Now the responsibilities increase and, given the moment we are going through in attack, it is difficult to rest him. With a player next to him he can work even better. When he finds himself alone he runs more and even does it badly, but this is part of his characteristics. We have to make sure he runs less and better. He is capable of finishing, we must serve him well. If we had had another striker available the other evening, we would have paired him with another striker. He needs a shoulder nearby to do even more.”

CIERVO AND THE DEFENSIVE EXPERIMENTATION
«Ciervo started as a pure full-back because Zé Pedro wasn’t well and Sugawara didn’t have a transfer yet. I compared it to Palestra only because of the features. I tried him in defense to see if he could also guarantee us that role, but it didn’t go well. On the first goal he is the last link in the chain, but before that there were a series of errors by others. There is no need to rush or be pessimistic. If I had an emergency tomorrow, he could fill that role again.”

NZOLA AND A NEW STORY TO BE WRITTEN
“He’s done less than he really can. He has technical quality and physicality. He’s still thirty, and we were saying just yesterday that his career could still begin. One thing struck me. When I spoke to him, he made it clear that his story with Italy isn’t over yet. I hope he can continue to write his story in Cagliari.”

THE OPPONENT: LECCE
“I expect Lecce to be cautious. Neither team can lose. They have an experienced coach who knows his stuff, and I expect a match with several games in it. Mina, Idrissi, Kevin Carlos, and Nzola will be unavailable for the match against Lecce. Sugamele, coming from the Under-20s, will join the first team. It’s unlikely he’ll get a visa in time to sign Sugawara,” he added. “Points always count for a lot at the start of the season, as at other times of the season. We’ll need to be good at reading the game’s moments.”