At the end of the 2-0 defeat against Napoli, the coach of Monza, Alexander In this, lucidly analyzed his team's performance, acknowledging the limitations that led to the third defeat of the season. After a good start, in fact, Monza gradually lost control of the game, leaving space for Napoli, who took advantage by scoring two decisive goals in the first half.
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“We started off well,” Nesta made his debut, “but then we stopped keeping the ball.
Sometimes they didn't even press us, and we should have known when to play up top to keep them away. Instead we lost too many balls and they put us under pressure, scoring two goals.
If you just play defense for too long, sooner or later you give something away.”
In the second half, however, Monza showed signs of recovery, even if not enough to overturn the result: “In the second half we did much better, we were more balanced. The choice of the three midfielders was linked to the defensive phase, because they have two attacking midfielders, two midfielders and two strikers who block a lot.
We needed players in the middle of the pitch so we wouldn’t get overwhelmed.”
Monza, Nesta: “A truly strong Napoli in front of us”
Nesta also highlighted the difficulties related to the management of the squad, with some Primavera players on the bench: “I didn’t want to make too many changes because we were doing better in the second half, but I had few players available, many Primavera players.”
The main difficulty, according to the coach, was the poor ability to maintain possession of the ball, an element that penalised the team both in the offensive and defensive phases: “If you can’t keep the ball and lose it too easily, then you can’t afford to play ten minutes of defense without paying the price. We need to improve, make simpler choices and understand when to play long to Djuric or close down.”
Finally, Nesta recognized the value of his opponent: “We faced a really strong Napoli, one of the best teams in the league.
We all know the standings, we know where we are and that we have to do more. The calendar has been complicated so far, but we absolutely have to move up the standings.
We are one of the few teams that hasn’t won yet, and that needs to change soon.”
Article published on 29 September 2024 - 23:05
