Marco Giampaolo admits he had to completely transform his vision of football to fit the Torino squad because they are ‘not capable of taking the initiative. We don’t have many passers.’
It was difficult to think what could possibly have gone more in Toro’s favour this evening, as Spezia had Luca Vignali sent off at the eighth minute and were already decimated by injuries, yet the only genuine scoring opportunity came in stoppages for a 0-0 draw.
Marco Giampaolo admits he had to completely transform his vision of football to fit the Torino squad because they are ‘not capable of taking the initiative. We don’t have many passers.’
It was difficult to think what could possibly have gone more in Toro’s favour this evening, as Spezia had Luca Vignali sent off at the eighth minute and were already decimated by injuries, yet the only genuine scoring opportunity came in stoppages for a 0-0 draw.
“Our characteristics are not those of taking the initiative. That’s not what we can do. We have to work on what the opponents do,” Giampaolo told Sky Sport Italia.
“Today we weren’t sharp enough, didn’t make the right choices, then in the final 15 minutes we didn’t even have a bit of luck. We weren’t clear-headed in the situation.”
This means that regardless the other results this weekend, the Granata remain in the bottom three and are without a Serie A home victory in six months.
“Clearly, this draw along with our current position in the table makes it very difficult, but the team has improved since the start of the season,” insisted the coach.
“I maintain Toro play better now than they did at the start. I realise it’s a game we had to win, against 10 men, and there is responsibility to be shouldered. We put ourselves in this situation.
“When playing every three days, you can rotate the squad, but you still end up preparing for games only with video lectures and not training on the pitch.
“If you look at the table, then yes it all looks dark, but in reality Torino are playing better than at the start.”
Can the transfer window change the Toro problems and make it more of a Giampaolo-style team or is it a deep-rooted issue?
“This team is very good at denying the opposition, not taking the initiative or passing the ball. We don’t have many passers in this squad, inevitably we will struggle when trying to move the ball around and creating scoring opportunities. That is not our style, due to the characteristics of the vast majority of the squad.
“We tried something different at the start, but we had to adapt to suit the characteristics of the players. We’re just not capable of it.
“I maintain the team is now on a path, which is better than the one it was on at the start of the season. We have used up all our bonuses and now cannot afford to make a single mistake, but we put ourselves in that situation and now have to deal with it.
“There’s no difference against the leaders or those at the foot of the table. We can’t let anything slip.”