Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano admitted that ball possessions isn’t always enough following their Coppa Italia win over Parma. La Viola found themselves 2-0 down after just 25 minutes of play, with Adrian Bernabe and Ange-Yoan Bonny putting the visitors ahead. A spirited fight-back in the second half saw Fiorentina score twice after the 80′ minute mark, with M’Bala Nzola and Riccardo Sottil making it 2-2, shortly before the home side won a tense penalty shootout.
Speaking in the post-match Italiano admitted that having lots of the ball wasn’t enough in this instance:
“We knew that Parma once they went ahead, like against Lecce, they close up and play on the counter. By also looking for solutions that we’re not used to, like vertical and direct balls to the forwards, we managed to recover the game. Sometimes ball possession is not enough”.
“The trust in Nzola? We had to play some dirty balls on the edge of the area, I needed his reaction to a first half that wasn’t up to scratch. We were repaid, he also scored a great goal. I’m happy because he reacted, he scored and we got through this round”.
“Close matches? The problem is physical. At a mental level, a few video sessions are enough to recover. Today we pushed for inertia, we showed pride. Next opponent? Inter and Bologna are two very strong teams, one is worth the other’.
“The Nzola-Beltràn pairing? Lucas has shown he can also play outside, like with Genk. Today he went 2-on-2 with Nzola and performed well on this occasion too. They are two weapons at our disposal, we can create dangerous situations with them. I am convinced that the two-forward solution can be useful to us from here to the end”.
