Turati: “We can still improve, but I'm glad that Spezia is always watching us”

After the victory over Livorno, here’s what Coach Marco Turati had to say: “I’m not entirely satisfied because in the first half it took us too long to figure out where the open spaces were and where we could have been more effective; I’d already tried to get that across to the team at halftime, because the open spaces and the unmarked players were there today, but then we did a good job of executing that in the second half, especially in the first twenty minutes.

I’m a bit disappointed with how we approached the latter part of the second half, because we dropped back too far—and that’s not good for a team like ours; we could have pushed harder and taken advantage of both our physical conditioning and the technical skills of the players we had on the field.

I want to congratulate Livorno and their coach, because they prepared very well for the match and executed their game plan very effectively—so today’s match was by no means an easy one.

Limonelli? This is the third year I’ve coached him, so he understands well when it’s time to adapt to the flow of the game, and he’s very important in bringing balance to our play; I always tell him he has tremendous qualities and that he needs to improve in the final meters, but today he definitely deserves my congratulations for the game he played. I’m also very happy with Jimenez’s substitution, because I firmly believe a game can change in an instant—even just ten minutes can make all the difference—and I saw him come on with the right attitude: I’m very satisfied with him as well.

I’m lucky to have been here before; it fully reflects my character: we want to play well, but what matters most on our journey is having the “Spezia spirit.” I’ve always told the guys that I’ll never judge them by the result, but by what they show the people of Spezia in terms of attitude.

Mazzocchi is our finisher—someone who has to make a big impact inside the box—and so far, he’s certainly done just that. He also has other qualities: he’s selfless and always ready to lend a hand. We’re all very happy with him, but I think he’s still achieved too little in his career so far, and given what he’s showing us today, we’re truly satisfied.

Mateju? We needed him today. We only have one right back on the roster—Oyono—who just arrived, so I had to put him in. I was disappointed to hear a few boos when he came on; he’s an important player, Spezia needs him, he could be the defender we’ve been looking for, and the entire Spezia community needs to stand by him and support him, just as they do with the rest of the team.

The chant from the Curva Ferrovia really pleased me; it’s a sign that we’re making an impact. Am I satisfied? No, we didn’t do everything we wanted to or should have done—we started off a bit too tense, made too many mistakes, and ended the match in a way I didn’t like.

We never look at the standings because we’re on a journey, and we need to get a lot of things in order—so we need patience and to focus on our daily work, because we need the foundation to build something truly great, and today we’re laying that foundation. I’ll say it again: today we faced a strong team that hadn’t lost a single game before today, and it was truly a great match between two teams that both wanted to win.”