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Below, broken down by main topic, are the statements made this afternoon at a press conference in Casteldebole by Rossoblu coach Sinisa Mihajlovic on the eve of Spezia-Bologna.
Desire for revenge – “Beyond the final result, we had six or seven scoring chances against Spezia in the Italian Cup. It is an aggressive and organized team, but we too, regret that game but now we have the opportunity to get revenge: we want the three points ».
We don’t look for alibis “The next game is always the most important, so we will try to line up the best team, despite the difficulties linked to injuries and the lack of choice. We must all give something more, from every point of view, we must not make excuses but look for the right path. If Danilo and Palacio are doing well, they will play, for the rest we will necessarily change something, but I am sure that whoever enters the field will do well ».
Retreat in serenity – “Abstinence is not a punishment, it seemed right to me to do it to stay together for a while, talk, evaluate some things: let’s pretend we have many cases of COVID and that it is a mandatory abstinence imposed by ASL (smile, ed). We will need it to clear our heads and stop making certain mistakes: tomorrow we will see what the response of the boys will be, it depends on them. We have three games in seven days, then there are holidays, so I think a little sacrifice can be made. So much does not change much compared to the usual situation, due to the virus that we are used to moving only between home and Casteldebole for six months.
Wrong afternoon in an anomalous setting – “On Sunday we suffered in the midfield, we couldn’t put pressure on them at the right time, even though we had prepared the game like many others. In fact, in the past, even against teams stronger than Roma, we have experienced such painful but balanced matches, open to any result. What happened, five goals conceded in a while, had never happened to me in 35 years of football, but this is a strange league. The other day I also saw Borussia Dortmund take five goals at home from Stuttgart, and Atalanta has even taken some boats, in such a situation you can win or lose with anyone. I was talking about it with the referee technicians, for me the offside of Palacio was not offside, and the foul on him was a penalty, as they admitted themselves, and we would have already been 5-3 and perhaps we would have talked about a great reaction from the team. We see that with the VAR and with the referees we have no luck … The truth is that we are talking about a tough defeat that should not be repeated.
A moment like any other «The most difficult moment since I’ve been in Bologna? Why? Last year we lost three games in a row, now we come from two defeats to Inter and Roma, which on paper can also be, and we are going to challenge Spezia with the same points as last year. Until two games ago it was said that if we had won in Milan we would have broken the points record of the Saputo era in the first ten days, but now it has become the most difficult moment … It could happen, we have been beaten by two more teams stronger than us Of course we did not do well, but maybe even if we did well we would not have been able to win, even if, for example, we had achieved it in recent years. It is a particular period, especially due to the many injuries, but I don’t see any other problems. When I came here and we went to play San Siro with Inter, that was the most difficult moment, or last year after those three consecutive knockouts.
Poor balance in judgments – “We will go out working, as we have always done, trying to recover the wounded as soon as possible, and giving everyone a little more than what has been given so far. Now we talk about many things, then maybe tomorrow we will win … Here everything is very relative, from a victory to a defeat: if you lose it is the end of the world and if you win instead … But this is what the newsstands do, not people who understand football. . My club and I are people who understand football, that’s why we cannot get down to these things, to these provocations: we are calm and serene, we know what we have to do, we try to score as many points as possible in these three games before of rest. The championship is long guys… ».
Firmly at the helm – “Anyone can make a mistake in a match, however, it doesn’t seem to me that the players didn’t respond to my orders, even if the question should be asked of the boys. I find provocative questions, easy to send without being present in the press room: when I am here they are all small, like haters from social networks: it is always convenient for the sheep to blame the wolf … I am sorry for those who asked the question, I do not know what will happen between now and some games but now it is not like that at all ».
Special relationship with the team – «The boys and I no longer talk to each other, we say goodbye every day, we no longer eat together, we can’t see each other (smile, ed). Empathy is always there, the relationship that exists between them and I cannot ruin a game: I love these guys, we’ve been through a lot of good and bad together, and we’ve always been close. Regardless of how long I stay here to train, or how long they stay here to play, they will always have a place in my heart, because I don’t forget what they have done for me on a personal and private level in my particular moment of life. Then as a coach, as a father with his children, from time to time I have to get angry, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get along anymore. I am sorry for these provocations but I can assure you that there is none of this, in case of problems I would be the first to say so, because I have always been sincere, honest and loyal.
Sinisa and Joey – “No, I have not spoken to the president. I talk to Saputo from time to time, but I haven’t talked to him these days. The president is a corporatist, he is not one of those who piss you off every day: he is a person I love very much and I think he is mutual. It is difficult for him to call, but not because he is particularly disappointed or happy, he does it when he thinks it is right to do so, because he is someone who delegates. He didn’t even call me at certain times when things were going well, so I don’t see a problem. We know how much Saputo loves Bologna and when we love him, a wonderful person. It’s like in true friendships, there are those who listen to each other every day but also those, whom I prefer, may never feel but are there in times of need. Here, this may be the relationship between the president and Bologna or between him and me, if we need each other we are there, because we have been through a lot with him as well and he has always been very present: certain things. I do not forget what he did for me, as I think he does not forget what I did for Bologna ».
Training options – “I don’t think one of the Primavera players will start, we have some added but at least we can find the first eleven. But with the race underway, we’ll see.
Matter of mentality – «We have our mentality, to talk later we are all fine: when we waited in Milan it was not good, with Roma we pressed and it is not good. We set up the matches in a certain way and we have to do this, regardless of the opponent: be aggressive and intense, go to high pressure, do what we’ve always done and that produced the salvation of 2019 and then we won some good games. We play football, and a bad defeat does not change our score, although the absences at the moment are many. I repeat again, the mentality of my Bologna does not change, we have to think about scoring one more goal than the rival and not about not catching it ».
Continue with my ideas – “During my career I have always shown that I am the first to take responsibility, admitting my mistakes and apologizing. In fact, a week ago, after Inter, I admitted that I was wrong and apologized to the players. As for Roma, we went back to the previous form and prepared the game as usual, other times we played evenly while Sunday was bad. I repeat, this is a strange league where things like this can happen, things change from week to week: there is no public, there is little pressure, the players look elsewhere for encouragement, there are many injuries. And then he just comes across stronger teams. Something like this had never happened to me, but maybe if we had scored 0-0 maybe we would have scored five. In any case, I’d rather lose once like that than upset everything and change my ideas.
Happy in Bologna and in Bologna – «Yes, I like my adventure in Bologna. We are all ambitious, but you also have to understand the situation, because no one could expect this COVID with the related consequences, so we need to know how to adapt. I’m fine in Bologna, I’m happy with the club, the president and the players, with all the normal problems that a football club can have. Now it’s like that, then next year, in two years or while I’m here, I don’t know what’s going to happen, because in a situation like this it doesn’t really depend on us. However, there is a solid company here and I am happy to be here, I do not have any problems. The objectives can also change during the year for various reasons, surely if it had not been for COVID we would have been able to continue on the path that we had set ourselves, instead difficulties have been created and therefore we need to have different ambitions and objectives. It’s one thing if a company says it wants to do something and then doesn’t do it, it’s another if it can’t do it for reasons beyond its control: you have to be smart and understand it ”.
Same performance, different result – “Against Spezia in the Italian Cup we did what we had to do, unfortunately without taking advantage of the opportunities. Maybe we could repeat that kind of game tomorrow, creating so much, I’m sure we would go home with the win. Because playing like this you win nine times out of ten. The guys know better than me where they went wrong, what they didn’t do, they know, they are not careless but they feel bad when you lose. They must always bear in mind that if we don’t have a certain kind of attitude we can lose even against weaker teams than Roma, on the contrary with a certain intensity we can play it even against stronger teams ».
