Interviewed at DAZN microphones in the post-match of the challenge against Juventus, Cagliari coach Davide Nicola spoke. Below are his answers to questions posed by the studio.
When you play with a great team, do you have to budget for conceding something like you did in the first half, or can you have an attitude like you did in the second half for ninety minutes?
“The will is to have an attitude always like in the second half, however, you have to recognize that the qualities on the field do not always allow you to do two halves like you did the second. Because in the second you raised your center of gravity, you were more proactive, you were able to have more production of play but, at the same time, you also had to put a lot of effort into not having attacks on the spaces and in the restarts that could become dangerous. In fact, the first half was set up to try to have density in the three-man midfield because we could not expect both the formation and the first-half game of Juventus, which has different interpreters. That allowed us to be ready for both.
In my opinion, we were not able to make good climbs to bring the right pressure. We were always coming in a little bit late and then definitely the goal we conceded came from a situation we knew about. It annoys us a little bit because of that. Then Juventus, when they gather well in the central funnel, become dangerous when they recover the ball and restart. There we had to be faster, go out wide, and instead we conceded a goal that affected us for a while. In the second half obviously we were already in the knowledge to make some changes. We had prepared it that way. Cagliari played the game they basically had to play. We have to be more adept at understanding and finding the right compromise between having the right coverage without losing the desire to propose. Today we succeeded in the first half and less so in the first.”
Have you gotten an idea of this year’s salvation threshold and the points you need to make to be safe?
“I don’t know if I am experienced. I have certainly struggled often for these goals. I don’t think I am a master and in my head I just try to come up with the right pattern of play for the players I have at my disposal and for the goal I have to pursue. Salvation is particularly challenging this year because there are several teams involved, although now a few teams seem a little further away. I see matches and everyone is extremely competitive. However, the space from winning 1-0, drawing or getting 4-5 goals is very thin.
We have to be aware that we always have to have a positive attitude, have respect of course for our opponents, know their qualities, but never give up proposing. Today we built the game. Too bad about the goal we conceded, because in my opinion it was something we could have done better. In other situations they could have scored for us and we would have accepted it. The important thing is not to determine by our own demerits.”
The article Cagliari, Nicola: “On Juve’s goal we could have done better” comes from JuveNews.eu.
