Federico Valentecoach of Sudtirol, spoke in a press conference a few days before the match against Cesena: “This is an intense and short week, because we played both Sunday and Wednesday and we will take the field next Sunday. Yesterday’s objective was to regenerate the team and carry out compensatory work for those who didn’t play. We still have two days of training to prepare ourselves as best we can for the match that awaits us on Sunday. It will still be very hard.
Mallamo? He trained with us all week, even in the last two days, he was also already on the bench with Frosinone to get a feel for the pitch and he should be available on Sunday. Today El Kaouakibi will partially return with the group and I hope to also be able to count on his availability.
Behind us we have six central defenders and any of them can take over or come on at the start. Clearly you have to look on the pitch at what the opponent is asking of you, whether you are facing a fast or experienced team and how the boys are doing. It is the characteristics of who you face that determine your choices. Today we also have to evaluate Kofler’s condition, who wasn’t well yesterday. We played the second match with a specific defensive solution, the others are always viable: everyone is available. For me, as I always say, all the players in the squad are important.
In terms of characteristics, there are certainly different players in a squad, not all are the same and you still have to find a functional solution, a mix between what the opponent requires of you and what you would like to impose. We knew that Frosinone would be a little higher with the last line and for this reason I wanted to expand the depth a little more, compared to another team waiting for you.
Sometimes your plan works perfectly, other times not so much. We work a lot on preparing for the match by analyzing the opponent and we really try to always make the most of it and look for what could be the right idea.”