Turati: “A match that will be important for our maturation process”

At the end of the match against Latina, coach Marco Turati spoke to the press:

“As I said on the eve of the match, we expected a physical game based on duels. We knew the game would be very fragmented, that it would be a tough one, and we responded blow for blow. After Latina’s start we took control of the match, scoring a great goal, and we could also have found the second. In the second half, however, after five minutes we complicated the game, and we also conceded the equalizer a few moments later.

The knockout blow in the closing stages could still have come, because despite the difficulties the team pushed hard and gave everything it had inside, which for me is the primary aspect, as I have said since day one.

Di Serio? He made a mistake. Ours is a very young team, and losing one of the most experienced players made us stagger immediately and affected the rest of the match. I would have liked to make different substitutions, bringing on quality, because I knew the game would open up, but the match went down another track and so we had to play a different script.

We had prepared the match the way we were playing it initially, that is, to play in a much more vertical way, considering the characteristics of our offensive reference point today. We could have done something better, but despite that we spent a lot of time in the opponent’s half, also having the opportunity to find the second goal, as with Bright’s header. In any case, I must congratulate my lads, because staying twenty minutes a man down in a match like today’s was absolutely not easy.

We know that in terms of experience we can leave something on the table, which is precisely why I always ask the lads to stick to the game plan we prepared. We must grow on a personal level, but I want to stress again that it was not an easy match, one in which we reacted, and which will surely be very important for our maturation process.

I repeat: it was a good game, because it was absolutely not easy to play against an opponent like Latina. The referee? He often let play go on, and we bear the marks of the battle on our legs, but the mistake is first and foremost ours, because the sending-off undoubtedly affected the match.

Cazzadori? If I hadn’t put him on straight away, we would have been left without strikers on the pitch and restarting would have been very complicated. He has physical presence, strength, and he was important on both set pieces.

Cannavò? We took a few more minutes to bring him on because we wanted to understand how the match was developing. I am very happy with him, he is going strong and in the next matches he will certainly give us a big hand.

The desire to win it despite the numerical disadvantage? It is our mentality. We always want to play to win; it is difficult for us to think about playing conservatively, also because of the young age of our players. My lads’ desire to sink their teeth into the game must always be at 120%, because otherwise, as soon as we drop off, we can reopen the match for our opponents.”