It’s the new coach’s turn: “I’m excited, having this great opportunity with Bologna is very nice. They really wanted me and I thank them. It will be an important year, we will have to confirm ourselves and we will have a European competition where we want to do well. There is great enthusiasm from me and my staff: there are the conditions to work well. I immediately saw a good environment. I am very happy. I saw the growth of Bologna last year and I am curious to find the players again when we leave team has expressed itself at great levels and we want to continue this path.”
An extraordinary job was done in Bologna by focusing on non-established players. Do you expect a strategy of this type or do you believe that Zirkzee and Calafiori could be part of the future?
“Everyone has shown that they are up to the task and have amazed everyone, including me. The players have already raised the level, many are of international caliber and are at the European Championship. Along the way we will see why we have not yet explored the future of some players in market terms. I am convinced that we will present ourselves well.”
Looking at the football proposal, how close do you feel to Motta’s Bologna?
“From the point of view of game development we are similar. We work in width with the wingers, we develop from behind with the defenders and we start from the bottom. The midfielders are always involved, the striker must be the terminal but also work for the team We are similar, then each of us has our own way of working and preparing for matches.”
What objectives did the company ask you to achieve?
“We want to try to maintain a high level, continue to offer games and entertain people. The aim is to always improve the players and find consistency in terms of performance. We want to do well in the league and honor the Champions League. I am convinced that you can come out of every match with your head held high. The first aim is to play well because if you don’t play well you can’t win matches.”
You started from the bottom to get to the top, what do you say to those who judge a coach’s career for having lost three finals?
“You quickly forget the path that leads you to play the finals. Getting to the end is a merit, then you always want to win the finals but you don’t always succeed. Look at Gasperini, who was recovering from some bitterness and won and I he remembered that the routes remain and give value. I hope to play in the finals again. We want them to be effective, Orsolini has shown that he knows how to make the difference and changes the match plan for the opponents the better. Orsolini, Karlsson and Ndoye have the right characteristics.”
What convinced you to choose Bologna?
“After getting through the Conference semi-final I concentrated on preparing for the final, then there was also the recovery of the championship and in the end there was a lot of bitterness because I believed in that victory. In the following days I had the opportunity to continue talking with the directors and there has been no problem. They have been my collaborators for many years and now we will see how to integrate with some figures.
What is the main curiosity about your arrival in Bologna?
“A coach must know where he is going to work, he must inform himself and he must integrate. In Bologna the people are enthusiastic, they saw a team that entertained and controlled the matches. This explains the sensations that the square wants to experience. I saw happy fans and We’ll try to fill the square again. We’ll find a way to bring lots of people to the square.”
That Vincenzo Italiano is arriving in Bologna today?
“A coach who arrives after a salvation and lands in Florence and manages to achieve great goals is normal for him to have changed. It’s clear that I’m different from many points of view. You necessarily improve and it’s also the players who give you a hand to be different and make them perform. I had never won a cup and in two years we reached the end. These are experiences that you carry with you. In football you never know, I arrive here with great enthusiasm, I met Sartori as a footballer and now I’m at his side as a coach and I don’t know what the future will be.
What growth step is Bologna compared to Florence?
“The Champions League is something that adds a new goal to my journey. The experience of the Conference finds me prepared in managing commitments, but we will face teams of great value.”
Did you ask the management about the possibility of keeping the big names?
“We will have the opportunity to discuss the future market well after the conference.”
What are the three non-negotiable cornerstones for the team?
“Seriousness, professionalism and attachment. They made the difference last year and are requests that all players already have in their hearts.”
What do you think might be the biggest difficulties in your approach to Bologna?
“A coach looks first and foremost at what the team is, the players, the characteristics that must be suited to your thinking. From this point of view there are no problems and they are very similar to us in the development of the game. This is the most simple to get me closer to the boys. Then I have to try to understand their habits off the pitch and when we share everything it won’t be a problem.”
In recent years, Italian football has shown that it can be achieved at a high level. Does the working class go to heaven?
“Turnovers don’t go on the pitch, Bologna has demonstrated this like other teams. On the pitch it’s about work, professionalism, ambition and the desire to grow. In football you can achieve anything.”
Conte told Di Lorenzo ‘forget Juve’. Will you say the same to Calafiori?
“We’re waiting for July to have all the boys available, then obviously a coach has to hear and listen to everyone. I’ll hear what the needs are and it’s already happened to me that some players changed their minds. We’ll see. Let’s work to do the good of Bologna, to win matches and together I am convinced that we can win many of them.”
Question for Fenucci. What is your position on Calafiori?
“With Calafiori, the desire is to confirm a large part of this season’s squad. We want to move forward with this group which still has the potential to improve. We prefer to continue with them, at the moment we have already communicated to his agent that we have no intention of moving the player.”
Did you hear from Orsolini after he was excluded from the European Championship?
“I called Orso on the day of his exclusion, he was sorry but obviously we respect Spalletti’s work. I told him that he will have time to make up for it with Bologna.”
In the Senate he spoke about the debts of Italian football
“There was a hearing in the Senate to talk to the commission about the situation of Italian football. The Football League presented a reform project which we supported and it is very important that politicians listen to us. Football’s turnover is 4 billion and we are the largest industry of collective emotions. We also need to work on structures and renovations. There have been hundreds of redevelopments in Europe with strategies similar to the one we are carrying out in Bologna. I reiterated that the controls must be coordinated in the area European system and the system must be sustainable because in the past there have been episodes of clubs obtaining sporting results with budgets that then worsened. Greater control is needed.”
The conference is over
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