1.45pm – A conference by Thiago Motta, Bologna coach, is scheduled for 2pm. The rossoblù will in fact be busy on Sunday against Udinese at the Dall’Ara. We you Tuttomercatoweb.com we offer you the statements of the coach from Bologna live.
1.57pm – Motta’s conference begins
This morning in an important national newspaper a lot of space was given to Motta’s Bologna. What does it mean for you?
“I thank everyone for their kind words because praise is always nice but we are only thinking about the next match to be able to give another great joy to our people, who will once again fill the stadium.”
When people stop you on the street, what do you say?
“They compliment me… it’s nice and we must continue with this commitment until the end. We must always give our audience this joy.”
The time to prepare for the match against Udinese was short but Cannavaro had even less time. Did you watch the Rome match again?
“I always watch our matches to show the boys where we need to insist and what we can improve. In Rome we played a good match but there are moments, especially in the opponent’s half of the field, in which we can still raise the level.”
What have you learned from the Udine match to today?
“On that occasion Udinese put in a great performance which put us in difficulty especially after the second goal. This time we have to try to take the match where it suits us and not where it suits them, which we didn’t manage to do. in the first leg. We know what we will face on Sunday and we are ready even though we will have a team up front that will try to put us in difficulty.”
Have you become more ambitious and patient, more mature since then?
“We have always played with ambition and responsibility, but we must consider that there are opponents on the pitch. We also put in a good performance in Frosinone to put the game on our side, as did Monza and Roma. The difference is that Roma are a team that wants to play and in this way the match is more open. The one against Udinese will certainly be a different match, in which we will have to be good at taking advantage of their weak points. I hope we will be able to offer our fans the best football possible. The boys on the pitch must understand the moments and this works on the pitch when all 11 think in the same way: football is a collective sport and we are now managing to do it well.”
When in Rome the team held the ball for almost two minutes, is this the typical play?
“Yes, I also want this but I also want the ability to turn the game around quickly, to attack the opponent with a few passes when they leave us spaces. However, it is not always possible and we must be able to understand the situations.”
Will the match plan be different with Udinese?
“I think so, but if they come here to play we have to be ready for that too. However, I think they will often try to close themselves off and we will have to be able to deal with this aspect collectively.”
How much did you like the fact that the team has almost never ‘slipped’ in this championship in this growth process?
!This is a strength of the boys on the pitch, as or was after conceding Roma’s goal at the Olimpico. We had a moment in the match where we defended well but we gave the ball away to the opponent and Roma tried to take the shot. However, we did well to rebalance the game and take advantage of the opportunity to make it 3-1.”
You have often stated that you prefer a short squad, but do you still hold this opinion?
“My idea is to prefer quality and not quantity. I prefer a short squad with quality players who can cover multiple roles. El Azzouzi is a player who today can play in multiple parts of the pitch and I like this. Today we they are players who are participating little because the squad is large and I don’t like this.”
After the match he said he was tired…
“Yes, I wasn’t joking. After the match in Rome I was very tired as were the boys. But we are young and recover quickly.”
El Azzouzi changed many positions in the action of 35 passes in Rome despite not having played for some time. How proud does that make you?
“I’m proud of the fact that the boys immediately believed in what we wanted to propose to them. With the results arriving it was obviously even easier but even when the results didn’t arrive they were convinced of what we were doing… I think of the match against Cagliari in which we had the patience to continue doing what he had prepared, despite the match not going well up to that point. So Ndoye’s match in Rome after the mistake in Frosinone makes me proud. These guys follow everything we propose to him, trying these concepts every day in training.”
With a victory on Sunday Bologna would mathematically be in Europe. What does this mean?
“Our goal for Sunday is to offer our fans the best football possible, because we cannot have control of the result. We must prepare ourselves for our work and take care of all aspects of what we have to do. We will give our best and pay attention to every detail … We’ll see the rest at the end.”
Is the thought of being 8 points away from the Champions League an obsessive thought or could it be an extra stimulus?
“Now what matters is Udinese and how we will face this match.”
