Torino goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu explains where they went badly wrong this season, why they were ‘not ready’ for Marco Giampaolo and were beset by fear.
The Granata needed a point to guarantee their safety before Sunday’s head-to-head with Benevento, and they just about scraped it, because Lazio hit the woodwork twice in the final minutes, including a Ciro Immobile penalty.
Torino goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu explains where they went badly wrong this season, why they were ‘not ready’ for Marco Giampaolo and were beset by fear.
The Granata needed a point to guarantee their safety before Sunday’s head-to-head with Benevento, and they just about scraped it, because Lazio hit the woodwork twice in the final minutes, including a Ciro Immobile penalty.
“We’re enjoying it, we will continue to enjoy it for a while, but I was very tense before the game and strangely felt very calm and rational from the warm-up onwards,” Sirigu told Sky Sport Italia.
“I feel our mentality was what caused the problems this season and some fear took hold. Now we hope to metabolise and understand everything over the summer, which didn’t really happen last term because of the pandemic, the crushed fixture list and other issues.
“When a club like Torino has to scrape safety in the final two games of the season, we have to take responsibility and work out what went wrong.
“We had 27 points in the first half of last season, then lost to Atalanta 7-0 and fell apart. I realised after we realise we are this vulnerable, it feels very different every time we are on the field and get attacked. It really started from there and then these anxieties kept building, we went out with a different attitude and unfortunately that resulted in Walter Mazzarri’s dismissal.
“Last season we managed to secure safety relatively comfortably, had a 14-day summer vacation and then immediately started with a new coach. I really admire Marco Giampaolo, but the team frankly was not ready for him. We were a team in need of looking after and protection, but we were trying to play a style of football we were too frightened to do effectively.
“As time wore on, we realised that we had to simplify things and change our mentality to act like a small club. It’s not easy when you have players who are not used to fighting against relegation. That requires a different state of mind and sadly we just took a very long time to understand that.”
Even tonight there was a huge chance for Lazio to win it with an Immobile penalty, but it thumped the woodwork.
"I honestly was calm when facing the penalty, which is unusual for me. I thought OK, if we lose this game, we'll fight it out on Sunday with Benevento. Maybe that helped. Ciro told me he slipped, but then he always has an excuse!"