Giampiero Ventura wants an “arrogant and shameless Torino” against Inter at San Siro tomorrow night, but also criticised the media for focusing on transfer gossip.
Giampiero Ventura wants an “arrogant and shameless Torino” against Inter at San Siro tomorrow night, but also criticised the media for focusing on transfer gossip.
The Granata are unbeaten in five and are coming off two consecutive victories, something they had not achieved in Serie A since 2008.
“We hope to have learned our lesson from the last meeting,” said the Coach of their 2-0 home defeat to Inter.
“We are in condition to impress here and cannot know the result until the final whistle. Is San Siro a scary place to play? We paid the price at Napoli when for the first 10 minutes we were basically on a guided tour of the stadium. I’m confident the squad will be more focused.
“Again, I hope my team have learned their lessons, as giving 15 minutes to Inter would make it an extremely complicated situation. We can trouble Inter, seeing as we had been causing Juventus” data-scaytid=”30″>Juventus many problems while we were still with 11 men.
“Obviously points for our safety are not expected at San Siro, but I hope there will be a different attitude to the one we saw last time. We showed too much respect for Inter. I expect to see a more arrogant and shameless Torino.”
Ventura was irritated at the journalists in his Press conference, though, pointing out there was too much focus on transfer gossip.
“A great deal of rubbish has been written. I never had a problem with Gianluca Sansone and we said goodbye with affection when he joined Sampdoria” data-scaytid=”35″>Sampdoria. I wish him all the best in his new adventure.
“As for Sergio Almiron, it’s a bizarre situation, as we haven’t thought about him since May, yet every day new reports emerge that we are in advanced negotiations or desperate to sign him. Toro do not need Almiron. Write that down. I never requested him. Unless the President has been calling him secretly every night, that is the situation.
“Now can we stop talking about the transfer market and focus on the pitch? It’s incredible in Turin, as this morning there wasn’t a single newspaper that mentioned the game against Inter, who are hardly a nobody team. Then you write the players are ‘distracted.’”
Ventura regained his smile when asked about Jose Mourinho’s 50th birthday.
“I wish him all the best and will even sing him Happy Birthday. He seems arrogant and presumptuous, but was completely the opposite with me. He’d phone me after a game with Inter and said he’d vote for me in the Coach of the Year Awards because we played good football.”
Torino squad: Bakic, Barreto, Basha, Bianchi, Birsa, Brighi, Caceres, Cerci, D'Ambrosio, Darmian, Di Cesare, Gazzi, Gillet, Glik, Gomis, Masiello, Meggiorini, Rodriguez, Santana, Suciu, Vives