Under-pressure Coach Giuseppe Sannino is targeting a Coppa Italia win over Palermo to help end Siena’s current problems.
The Robur have lost three games on the bounce and have failed to score for 308 minutes in all competitions, but in talking to fedelissimoonline.it, the Coach has appealed for perspective during the ongoing crisis.
Under-pressure Coach Giuseppe Sannino is targeting a Coppa Italia win over Palermo to help end Siena’s current problems.
The Robur have lost three games on the bounce and have failed to score for 308 minutes in all competitions, but in talking to fedelissimoonline.it, the Coach has appealed for perspective during the ongoing crisis.
“In times like this, everyone can say everything. I must remain calm, listen to the opinion of others but also remain focused on my direction. Against Genoa my players have done their duty even if they were not as fluid and loose as in previous games, perhaps due to tension.
“I didn’t see a big difference between us and the Rossoblu – I saw a team, if anything, less aggressive than usual and therefore with less cutting edge. Everything depends on the result. Even in the media.
“I read the post-game pagelle marks – I may be watching a different type of football but I do not see how [midfielder Franco] Brienza can be marked so insufficiently. And it is subject to change even after one goal – a 0-2 instead of a 0-1 reads a lot differently.”
The 54-year-old former midfielder reflected on the bigger picture facing him in his first season coaching in Serie A.
“We started with the stated goal of League survival, then at the beginning of the season we collected so many points. In the last few games we have moved little in the table, remaining on 14 points.
“But if we had won the same 14 games would we have seen the same mixed opinions in the week? I do not live on the moon and I don’t think I’m a fool – I am concerned about what I feel is a lack of flow to the team, but not about our course, because I always keep in mind what our goal is.
“My job is to analyse games and correct errors that can be caused by fear, or perhaps from the pressure of the result.
“In football as in life there are moments that are beautiful and those that are less beautiful, and in the latter we see the strength of a team, of a club and of a city.
“We need to get back on course, it is true, we find it hard to score goals, we find negativity after the first issue, but a witch hunt would be unjust.
“The players that are now in a crisis of results are the same as a few months ago who provided joy and satisfaction. They cannot change within a week. The players should be enabled to give their best, hoping to reach the finish line in the long run. It has been great to see Siena discussed at national level, but football gives and takes away, it is trite and it forgets.”
The Coach then looked forward to Tuesday night’s Coppa Italia clash with Palermo and the opportunity it presents to bounce back.
Where Devis Mangia has confirmed that a number of first-team names will be left out, Sannino has indicated he will pick a strong team.
“We’re going to Sicily to get through to the next round. It is important to take to the field with a team of players who have also found their place in the League.
“I will stick with eight or nine first-team players. In the team will be Angelo, Contini, Reginaldo, Gonzalez, Larrondo…it will be important to get a result – it always is, for morale, gratification and motivation. Even in training.”
Sannino then rejected the notion that the players’ task of facing Milan at the weekend will come with lowered expectations.
“I do not like cliches and enough of the usual words – does it mean that if a team plays with nothing to lose that they play more relaxed? A team must always play to their best and to win. Indeed, in these games it would require double the energy. It is in these games that you measure the difference between a player and another, between a Coach and another.”