Torino coach Ivan Juric said he hopes patron Urbano Cairo ‘will listen to me’ in the future transfer markets and stressed he wants to ‘protect’ captain Andrea Belotti.
The Granata are preparing to face Sampdoria on Saturday and Juric’s men are desperate for points in the last two games before the international break.
But the former Genoa coach knows what to expect from Sampdoria and highlighted the problem of fatigue during the busy programme.
“It will be a very difficult game,” Juric said at a press conference. “Sampdoria had a great season last year and have added [Francesco] Caputo.
“They are strong, it will be tough. There’s a bit of tiredness among us, we have to recover well. If we don’t approach the match in the right way, it will become very hard.”
Dennis Praet, who was out for four games with an injury, has played just over 60 minutes in the last two games and Juric said he is still being assessed.
“The other day he had to play, the staff did well to help him recover quickly from a sore ankle,” Juric added. “We have to evaluate him wll: we wanted to start him, but [Karol] Linetty had a great match.”
Torino have lost 1-0 against Juventus, Napoli and Milan in recent weeks and Juric was asked to explain the narrow defeats to the giants.
“We have a one-year-old team, with one or two additions,” he said. “I want to underline it. We must not lose sight of it because Toro and Sampdoria are light years away from the last seasons.
“We have made significant progress, but not enough points have arrived. The performances are better than the results, we still have to improve a lot and understand what is going on and what is missing.
“The road is still very long and it will not be resolves so soon. We did well in the two phases against Milan. But we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities, we need to improve and it’s easy to take a step back if you lose focus.
“The performance, however, was very positive.”
Juric was asked if Belotti will start against Sampdoria or if Antonio Sanabria continues up front.
“We’ll see, I still have to think about it,” he said. “Belotti could have scored two goals, I think he would have scored a brace if he was doing well.
“I hope his conditions grow, Sanabria can improve too. For me, it’s nice to be able to use both. In a couple of months, we’ll see who I go with.
“I don’t think Belotti will go with the national team this break. I want to protect him. He has desire and has given positive signals, everyone expects him to fly.
“But last year he didn’t do well, he just has to work calmly. And I’m convinced that he will return to his best form.”
Juric was asked about his plans for the upcoming transfer market and sent another message to President Cairo.
The former Hellas Verona coach stressed the patron didn’t listen to him during the last transfer market but hopes he will be all ears in January.
“In these games we have to play and gain credibility, every match is important to put in a new piece,” he said. “And I hope that the President will listen to me more than in the summer, with my wort that is worth a little more because it didn’t happen.”