Torino Coach Walter Mazzarri believes this is “the worst moment” to face Roma but “we have the possibility of hurting them”.
The Granata face the Giallorossi tomorrow, and the tactician spoke in the pre-match Press conference this afternoon, beginning with some thoughts about Davide Astori, whose funeral is today.
“It’s difficult to talk about football after certain tragedies happen,” Mazzarri admitted.
Torino Coach Walter Mazzarri believes this is “the worst moment” to face Roma but “we have the possibility of hurting them”.
The Granata face the Giallorossi tomorrow, and the tactician spoke in the pre-match Press conference this afternoon, beginning with some thoughts about Davide Astori, whose funeral is today.
“It’s difficult to talk about football after certain tragedies happen,” Mazzarri admitted.
“We have to do our work and move forward though. I just feel like giving a hug to Davide Astori’s loved ones, we all need to be close to them.
“That’s the only thing I can say.”
Mazzarri then turned his attention to the game.
“We’re facing Roma at the worst moment, we all know what they did in Naples. I'm curious to see what my team will do, on such a complicated field, against such a strong team.
“We were projected to give important answers after the very bad first half in Verona, then what happened, happened.
“The same answers that I wanted, I want now.
“It’s true that we have the possibility of hurting them if we interpret certain things in the best way, but I think first things first we have to be balanced and compact.
“If not, we saw against Napoli what they’re capable of.
“We’ll defend as 11, so the defensive phase starts with the midfielders and the strikers. I expect to see a compact team.
“Then of course we’ve been working on the attacking side too. We’ll see what happens.
“I want total football, to defend as 11 and attack as 11. My teams can make mistakes or play badly, but all my players have to put their foot in, engage, win their duels with their direct opponent.
“Numbers and tactics count, sure, but that comes later. If I realised some players weren’t giving me these guarantees, I’d be the first to do something about it.”
The Coach was then asked if he’s seen more positivity from his players this week.
“It’s been a difficult week,” Mazzarri reminded the journalists.
“We were fired-up for Crotone, our adrenaline level was at 1000 but then what happened, happened. This was a difficult week.
“It’s not easy to answer that question right now, given what happened.”