Fiorentina, Vanoli: Dzeko finally defends his team-mates, we must adapt | OneFootball

After Edin Dzeko’s harsh outburst, coach Vanoli also spoke to the journalists, expressing his disappointment with the performance that led to the defeat against AEK Athens.

Fiorentina, Vanoli: “I didn’t get carried away in Genoa or against Juve, and I won’t get discouraged now”

The Viola’s coach, Paolo Vanoli, spoke to the journalists, explaining the reasons behind the European defeat against AEK Athens. Here are his words, as reported by firenzeviola.it:

On the match

“I didn’t get carried away in Genoa or against Juve, and I won’t get discouraged now. When you play at home, it’s like Edin said: there are young guys and the team is struggling. We need to be aware that this is a long-term situation. It’s a mistake to think we’ll get out of it right away. We have to take it one small step at a time, knowing the road is full of ups and downs. But we need to be more clear-headed.”

“We have to work on our mindset because these guys have a huge weight on their shoulders. We’re paid a lot because we’re under great pressure, myself first and foremost. What bothers me is that we hang our heads at every little mistake, when there was a chance to get back into the game. We need to try to do things for the team. Even in the first half we were slow moving the ball around, Ndour never found his position, sometimes the playmaker takes one touch too many. We even messed up some crosses… I was worried before and I still am, but I’ll be worried in the future too because it’s a long road.”

“I’ve always said it: we have to adapt to this reality. When you start out with certain goals and then find yourself here, it’s all about negativity. We have to turn it into positivity. Now let’s rest and tomorrow we’ll recharge our batteries because the league is coming up.”

On Dzeko

“When I talk about experience, I mean a player like him who has won so much. Finally, there’s a player who stands up for the team: finally! He said we played like crap, he didn’t hold back. That’s the most important thing. The team is more than stretched, we’d have to do something exceptional that goes beyond the statistics. Only Cagliari survived after having zero wins in 12 matches.”

On tactical changes

“In the end I put Gud as a mezz’ala, Fazzini wide, the two strikers, but right now the episodes aren’t going our way. We have to be gritty. The fans saw heart against Juve, but we showed it tonight too. The road, I repeat, is very long. We’ll have to suffer until the end, otherwise they wouldn’t have changed the coach… In the first half Ndour was always out of position, Ranieri was too wide… I know there’s a lot of work to do and I’m not scared. I’m sorry for the terrible performance and tomorrow morning we’ll get back to work.”

Raffaele Morra

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.