Below are the words of the Salernitana coach Giovanni Martusciello at the press conference:
Mister, what game should we expect tomorrow and could it be an opportunity to see two strikers?
“I still have one training session available and there are some things we still need to look into, I will decide based on the boys’ responses also taking into account the characteristics of an interesting match, in which we have the opportunity to play on a nice pitch against an opponent which aims to close the season in the most important areas of the ranking. We must enjoy this opportunity, putting our potential on the pitch. We have done a good job this week too, as I said last Sunday we must not let ourselves be influenced from time to time by the results because, if you sow well, sooner or later the victory will come. The answers are coming, the episodes don’t reward us enough. I’m curious about tomorrow’s race. I don’t need to change the tactical structure or game system, especially at the beginning I believe that any changes could make us lose certainties. Torregrossa? He needs to train, to work, to put minutes into his legs, to find the best condition to give us a further hand.”
How are you experiencing these days in which there have also been criticisms?
“I am not a coach who is influenced by the result. I am in contact with the group and the team every day, I see how they work and I know that, to achieve a result, we have to play in a certain way, acquiring knowledge that goes beyond the characteristics of the opponent. I can’t change habits, I always try to analyze matches objectively. Against Catanzaro we lacked a little bit of brilliance, perhaps also due to the midweek match in Udine, but we tried to win it until the end. Only in Mantua have I not seen the Salernitana I want. All things are arrived at gradually. The ranking says that we have 8 points and perhaps they are even a lot since we were born recently.”
How do you explain all these injuries and what is the situation in view of tomorrow’s match?
“I already expressed my opinion on Adelaide a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, history tells us that he has had many injuries in his career. However, I can’t conceive of Maggiore’s situation. I was a struggling player and getting hurt was almost a habit. He too will not be available for the Palermo match. Things that happen during such a long season, obviously, but it is a fact that in this initial phase of our journey it has happened several times. From a numerical point of view, the choices are clearly decreasing. But this week I saw Hrustic training well for the first time. Unfortunately he is also a national team that I won’t have available for about twenty days, as he will be going to Asia. These are also things that we had planned for. In these hours I will decide whether to start him from the beginning or field him during the race”.
Who could recover after the break?
“I think Tongya and Maggiore, also Dalmonte: I hope they can rejoin the group as soon as possible. Not next week, but in the following week I plan to have everyone available.”
What match are you expecting tomorrow?
“Palermo is a strong team, I think it’s just a coincidence that they haven’t achieved results at home because they are in a run-in phase and it always takes a little bit of time. But I look at my home and, as I said before, I will choose based on the certainties that the boys give me during training and not based on the characteristics of the opponent that I am going to meet from time to time. I would like to dominate the matches, I know that the boys follow me and that they have always shown the right spirit on the pitch.”
Don’t you see a two-pronged Salernitana?
“I have three central strikers at my disposal, with Torregrossa and Simy who are very physical players. It’s true that on some occasions playing with two attackers gave us results, but in other circumstances things didn’t go well. I am not a rigid coach, but we are in a construction phase and I have to give precise references to the team. Going to insert something different, at such a moment, could entail risks. The objective is to have balance and try to dominate the game without penalizing one phase rather than another, as happened against Reggiana and Catanzaro: we didn’t concede a goal and we created opportunities. I rely on the characteristics of our players, everything needs time and I always make all kinds of evaluations. Tello, for example, could also play wide, but Hrustic and Soriano wouldn’t cover the width.”