With pride and awareness. With the desire to react after the first knockout of the season even if with a reinvented defense, some heavy absences, some key men not at their best and recovered almost at the last minute. Catanzaro against Bari and “San Nicola”, an opponent who missed the Serie A by no less than four months ago and in an immense stadium. Immense, but also colored by a large and noisy Giallorossi segment: 1,290 fans who pulverized the availability of the away section in less than an hour.
“We are playing against a high-level team that did very well last year and is doing the same this year even if they are missing a few points,” he underlined. Vivarinia great ex together with Maita (and Di Cesare) from this afternoon’s challenge.
«Beautiful square where I had a great time. I expect a very close match, they certainly studied us and so did we, so there will be a lot of tactical work especially to try to undermine their defense which doesn’t allow space. We will have to be good at overcoming a defeat that everyone is sorry about, whose mistakes we have analyzed and for which I have taken responsibility with the boys. We are aware that we could have done much better in many aspects and now I can’t wait to verify what we have prepared.”
Catanzaro with 4-4-2, Scognamillo more than Katseris at right back because Oliveri is disqualified and Situm is injured (“He’s a fantastic player,” the coach said of the Croatian). There are also other ballots: Miranda favored over Krastev at the center of defence, Veroli forced to replace Krajnc (out with gastroenteritis), Verna returning to the starting lineup alongside Ghion (also with some ailments). And again: Iemmello, slowed down by the flu until Friday, in a head-to-head match with Donnarumma, Brignola or Sounas as a right winger in midfield.
In short, things change after Parma: «The squad is large and we still have to verify its strength, there is no better opportunity than this», explained the coach: «We are still at the beginning of the championship, we must be calm because the best is yet to come. And I’m very confident.” It will be interesting to understand how the Giallorossi assimilated the 5-0: «In Serie B, goals are conceded and must be taken into account, we worked on it a lot because then you have to be good and proactive in reacting after conceding one. And what’s more, you must be applied, humble, capable of suffering.”
It is probable, therefore, that Catanzaro will have the same attitude seen in Cremona, on his debut, more careful although never speculative: «We started with more prudent mechanisms, in the first four matches we gained confidence and we thought we could do well even with Parma, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t remain calm. During the week we worked a lot on a psychological level, but also to have the anger and humility to start again. And we went back to thinking about the concepts of the pre-season and the debut, in which we were very careful about non-possession, knowing that in an offensive way we can always have our say.”
The proximity of the fans helps: «But we must continue to fuel this fire, I have never seen the enthusiasm I see here anywhere. But we only think about getting results.”