Thiago Motta presents Naples-Bologna, race scheduled for Saturday at 6.00 pm. The Italian-Brazilian coach, who was also courted last year by Aurelio De Laurentiis for the Italian bench only to receive a ‘no’, spoke at the press conference. Here are all the statements reported by Tmw colleagues.
If there is a combination of results this weekend there could be a Champions match point..
“Yes, why not? Since we have already written the history of this club there is the possibility of going to the Champions League. It is as important as all the other matches because it is the next one, we have prepared very well to face a strong team in our championship. From last year Napoli have retained all but one substitution, we will face a strong team, we will have to use the ball very well.”
How do you get to kilometer 40? Do you include the athletic trainers among the MVPs of the season?
“Yes, we arrive with a clear head and fresh legs, the boys, regardless of how it ends, have had a fantastic season, if there is pressure it is for the other teams, not for us. We will try to put in a great performance also in Naples against a team strong”.
Is Ndoye just lacking the confidence to score?
“The more we think about it, the more we put pressure on him, the more difficult it will be (the goal – ed.). He helps a lot in the defensive and offensive phase, he was decisive even without scoring a goal, then in the Italian Cup with Inter he gave a great performance. Not nothing has to change, confidence in himself, he will help until the end of the season, I hope he can score and score goals, but without forgetting all the other things.”
Has Soumaoro mentally recovered from the injury?
“Yes, he is gradually returning to his teammates, he is a great professional, very serious and focused, he will slowly return to the team, I hope he can return to his level as soon as possible.”
What did you say to Spalletti yesterday?
“Many things, we talked about the boys here who can go to the national team one day, we talked a lot about football, I listened a lot, he is a great coach who has been at a high level for a long time, I am very happy that he has come to us, I hope that he too was happy to come and talk above all about football.”
What didn’t work for Napoli this year?
“I have no idea, I think about how to deal with it, from the outside I see that it is a strong team.”
How important is the closeness of the fans even after the trip to Turin, with the fans who encouraged the team?
“Our fans have always conveyed this energy, my boys are always angry when they don’t win, but always with their heads held high, it’s bad for them if they have their heads down because if they have their heads down I’ll take it back, because they don’t want to win but in Turin we had a good performance, I’m not going to talk about the games they played at home, the goals they conceded… the boys were angry for not having won but at the same time happy for having been on the pitch until the end, playing football, with our identity. Our fans help by giving us extra energy, the boys have done something historic this year, I thank them and others.”
Napoli is the only team with greater ball possession than Bologna
“It’s ball possession that creates opportunities, a strong team. We will have to be connected on the pitch to understand the moments to press or not to go too far… because when you don’t have the ball you can get into difficulty, we will have to use the ball well, it’s a good challenge for us.”
Bologna has only 5 defeats in the championship compared to its competitors
“It is a fact that greatly enhances our work. Because we play to win but if we fail to score there is the risk of not doing the defensive phase well. We were also good in Turin at defending ourselves so as not to let them take the lead, It also happened in other matches where we understood the moment well.”
Spalletti always wants unpredictability, where does he look for it in his team?
“Last year Napoli played at a very high level, this year many times we were forced to defend low and create with spaces, there are situations that we must have the clarity to be able to alternate, in the short game and in the long, the transition in these situations is very important and we can definitely do it a little better.”
Bologna is the team that recovers the most from a disadvantaged situation, is it a virtuous circle together with the few goals conceded?
“It depends on how you deal with the difficulty, sometimes we were good at overturning it, attitude is certainly the basis.”
Let’s try to interpret his words, in the last race did he say that he would sit down at the end of the season to talk about the future?
“For my part there is no news, you will know when there is news. Head to Napoli.”
Yesterday the Champions League… did you think you could get there one day? Who knows with which team…
“Yesterday a beautiful match as often happens with Real Madrid, we concentrated on thinking about our football, in Naples Bologna. I really like seeing the good game though, yes, Real Madrid certainly has one of the best coaches in the world, he transmits a lot” .
Ancelotti gets a lot of availability from his players
“Also for this reason he is one of the best in the world if not the best in the world. I had Carlo as a coach, he manages to get the most out of his players, he gives them responsibility. When the player has that responsibility to face matches like last night. . but Carlo is like that, no one can copy him. It’s impossible to be like him, he knows how to make you responsible but he knows how to relieve tension before an important match, he takes it all in even by chewing gum. He’s good at not transmitting tension to his team, either He did it to me: he made me responsible but knew how to leave me calm in letting me express myself at my best.”
That’s what she’s been doing for a few weeks too…
“No because it’s easy for us, we have no obsession with the race for the Champions League. We have no pressure, we don’t have any at all. Nobody in here could say that we were in the race for the Champions League. We have a clear head and fresh legs.”
Is this a match from Bologna?
“I don’t like to compare one match with another, in the other matches of the championship the story was very positive for us, but in Naples it could be different, we will have to be ready for anything, looking for a good performance, looking for the best possible result” .
Do you feel the group’s desire to be able to stay and play for the Champions League here? Can it influence his choice?
“My choice will be later, but our work has always been the same since the beginning of the season, but the one between the four lines counts, to make a great performance, the rest counts a lot for other clubs, we concentrate on doing the best we can. We don’t have any pressure today, when the season started we had other expectations and desires that weren’t these, you can see it.”
Have you added pressure along the way?
“Sure, we had to raise the tension a bit in the season but now there’s no need, we need to stay focused, it wasn’t in the plan at the beginning of the season but now we will fight until the end and without any pressure try to reach the goal” .
Naples is not just any square, it was particular for the match it won against Spezia… perhaps with luck…
“Luckily, never, you offend me like that. We won a very complicated match, there was a lot of tension even on the coach (himself, ed.) at that moment. Even if we didn’t have a shot on goal at that moment we deserved it because Napoli are not was able to score.”
In Naples there was that good performance with a 3-2 defeat… in which the first traces of your team were seen?
“Yes, but I would prefer to win on Saturday like we did against Spezia. In that match we managed to compete against a strong opponent but we weren’t satisfied with the result.”
