Serse Cosmi is still feeling the pressure of his return to management as he looks to record an unlikely first win with his Lecce away to Inter.
Cosmi began his pre-match address to the assembled media on Tuesday by reflecting on Lecce’s last-gasp draw away to Parma at the weekend. The Giallorossi were 3-1 up going into the final five minutes but conceded twice to only leave the Tardini with a point. It is now five League games without a win.
Serse Cosmi is still feeling the pressure of his return to management as he looks to record an unlikely first win with his Lecce away to Inter.
Cosmi began his pre-match address to the assembled media on Tuesday by reflecting on Lecce’s last-gasp draw away to Parma at the weekend. The Giallorossi were 3-1 up going into the final five minutes but conceded twice to only leave the Tardini with a point. It is now five League games without a win.
“We are in the same psychological condition that we were in after Lazio, finding ourselves commenting on the lack of a win. We now have one more point in the table but it sounds like two points lost. It is no use denying that there was much bitterness, we reviewed the game and the mistakes to understand where we went wrong.”
The Coach then looked ahead to his side’s visit to San Siro. From 12 meetings with Inter, Cosmi has beaten the Nerazzurri once, back in January 2003 with his Perugia side. Similarly, Lecce do not have a strong record against Wednesday’s opponents, having recorded only three wins from 26 previous League meetings.
“I think that the teams that are most difficult to face are those that suffer a little. In the case of Inter, they also have a team that has so many players in it that can score.”
Cosmi also looked to pass comment on the ongoing injury situation at his club, one that he argues is likely having an affect on the team’s efforts.
“I do not like to look for excuses, but in these two games against Lazio and Parma I only just had enough to name substitutes, as all the other players were injured. I have never had to field three goalkeepers in just two games before. It is something that is perhaps underestimated but carries a weight.
“It should not be a justification because Parma’s last goal saw us commit a lot of errors that we should not have. At that time there was a lot of anger in realising that it was the last ball of the game.”
When Cosmi was unveiled as the Giallorossi’s Coach, he intimated that he would look to keep the players to a single formation to avoid confusing them and slipping into changing shape as predecessors Luigi De Canio and Eusebio Di Francesco both became known for.
However, it was only after a mid-game formation switch that the team’s performance at the weekend improved.
“I want to emphasise that in the second half of the Parma match the team played well in a 3-5-2, which we took to the field with but that we had not previously tried. I am not a fundamentalist, I have often adopted the 3-5-2 in my career and was heartened to see Lecce play that way in Parma.”