Mister Massimo Oddo on the eve of LR Vicenza-Padova, Serie C Playoff Quarter Final first leg:
“The draw against Vicenza? It’s the same, at this point they are all strong teams. I’m very focused on my team, not on the others. The “advantage” of two out of three results? We don’t think about the “advantage”, these are thoughts that perhaps occur in the 170th minute, but not before, we have our identity, putting our qualities on the field. Emotional burden? It’s an important playoff match where if you pass you move forward, Vicenza is strong like many other teams in this mini-tournament, we have the pressure just as they do. I’m confident, I have a team that can have its say, we’ve forced our hand on our qualities. We have to put our qualities on the field, I have to put the team in a position to express themselves at their best. Have you played often or arrived rested? It matters less than zero, there is no correct answer, tomorrow is tomorrow. Everyone has their problems, tiredness or doubts, but we have to focus on the things we can control. Kirwan, Perrotta and Russini will be missing, Crescenzi is like this and like that… Perrotta had a small muscle problem, Crescenzi has been training, but he’s not at his best. What shouldn’t be done compared to two years ago? I don’t carry anything with me, it was a different year, they were other teams. we must not think about the advantage, we must be convinced, with respect towards the opponent, they have changed coach demonstrating their value, it is a strong team built to win, the pitch said that Padova arrived with a few more points, but now everything resets. Vicenza’s strong point? Experienced team, very solid, Vecchi was my teammate, he is adapting to the characteristics of his team, including the formation. It’s a good category team, it’s a strong team, we’ll play our cards. Ronaldo as an opponent, without that expulsion would it have been different in Palermo? It’s not true, a player being sent off obviously doesn’t help the team, but I don’t think that with Ronaldo on the pitch we would have prevailed until the end, maybe we would have had a few more chances, but we didn’t get to those playoffs very well, especially from the point of view physicist. We had a team in front of us that at that moment could have beaten Real Madrid, Ronaldo knows that he made a mistake, but he remains a strong player who can shift the balance. It was a different team, very solid, with a very strong defense, with some problems up front and older. Since we didn’t manage to win the championship in the match against Sudtirol, 4-5 players stopped, Ronaldo strained, Jelenic stopped… it’s a different story, this year will be a different story. Targa or some young people summoned? There are other players who can help. The VAR? I try to focus on what we can control, let’s not waste time and energy on anything else. We must only think about our qualities, giving everything on the pitch. We must do everything to be ourselves, as we are doing in training. This is a strong team that can do well. We do a wonderful job in the open air, we live on emotions, tomorrow we play against a strong team, in a beautiful full stadium, with 1200 of our fans ready to support us, the only negative note is the probable bad weather. But you always have to think about the positive sides, the last time I played in a downpour we won 3-0 against United… there’s rain for us as well as for Vicenza. I haven’t spoken to our boys about our opponents in recent days, regardless of who’s in front, the goal is always to get through. What can shift the balance now? Everything, everything can make a difference, detail makes the difference, you can do everything perfect, but you make a mistake and you lose. Just as you can play badly and pass the round. I say that we have to be ourselves, I have faith in the boys, I am convinced that they can play two great matches, then I hope they can repeat what I see in training. Russini? It’s not ready, but we have the possibility to change the list once, but we’ll see later.”
