Catania, for Viali a... scorching debut

A particularly hot evening for William Viali. Almost boiling, considering that his debut as coach of Catania coincided with his first bench at the "Massimino". The coach followed the entire match without a jacket, wearing only a sweatshirt, challenging the cold late March evening and, around the 80th minute, in a state of competitive trance, he even rolled up his sleeves...

Viali experienced a match within the match, giving instructions to his players for 90 minutes, trying to convey his football ideas. He remained still after Bruzzaniti's goal and asked the bench to keep a low profile. He remained impassive even after the equalizing goal from the visitors. It will take time, but some of his new way of understanding football has already been seen. Now we will see if he will follow this path already traced last night, or if he will make other changes to this new 4-2-3-1.

Mister, in analyzing the match, can we say that the two teams played one half each?

"Yes, exactly, it was like that. We conceded a bit too much, I could imagine it, we tried to do something different, I tried to set up the team in the conditions they were familiar with during the ball possession phase. But we made too many technical errors, we suffered against the opponent in some moments. I asked for things they weren't used to, then we had a formidable second half."

You said before the match that the result was important. Are you satisfied with the 1-1?

"The most important thing was the result, I confirm it, I believe the team deserved to win in the second half, then in the only occasion that wasn't too complicated we conceded a goal. The team gave everything, we need to improve in some areas, but from the point of view of desire we did well, I have nothing to reproach my players for. Even after their equalizer we tried to win it."

Can you explain why you substituted Caturano, signaling fear to the team?

"In that situation we don't have many solutions, it was the way to have three players for depth, I thought of giving different players the chance to close the match."

You just arrived, how long will it take before we see your true team?

"We don't have much time, so it needs to happen soon. I knew I was asking for new things, but it was part of the idea even before seeing the match. The team had some difficulties at the beginning, then, when they loosened up, they showed they could do well. I am confident."

What should be worked on in the coming weeks?

"Work on the field is important, but the goal is to raise the level of self-esteem, because that cynicism is needed to make as few mistakes as possible."

Then with Pieraccini you switched to a back four. Why didn't you choose a back three?

"If we had suffered from the opponent's ball possession then I could have thought of something different, but even in the action of the goal we had the ball, we lost it and in transition we conceded, making the same mistakes we made in the first half, then I switched to a back four with Pieraccini, because we had suffered in transition with numerical parity. In the last quarter of an hour I had put them back to three at the back, but in terms of verticality and ball possession we made too many mistakes. That's where we need to improve."

How central can Cicerelli be in your system of play?

"We all know Cicerelli's qualities. I have faced him many times as an opponent, he is a player who can be devastating for us. He is a player we want to recover soon, we are eager to get him back to top condition as soon as possible. Of course, it was tough to cut Ponsi, but that's the rule and we couldn't do otherwise."