Venezia coach Eusebio Di Francesco addressed the media following his team’s 2-0 defeat to Atalanta at the Stadio Penzo. Despite the loss, Di Francesco found positives in his team’s first-half performance while acknowledging areas for improvement.
When asked about costly errors, particularly another goal conceded from a corner kick, Di Francesco responded: “Beyond the goals, we had an excellent first half, with the desire to go and get them. We fell short on the balls we could have capitalized on. As for the errors, we’re talking about them too much. This question about set pieces, you always ask me. Always looking for someone to blame is a mistake for me; it’s the team’s fault. Today it happened to Candela to make a mistake, as it has happened to others. We’re paying for the small inexperience in this league.”
The coach highlighted the positives from the match: “As a coach, I liked my team in the first half. But then you have to score goals. We’re repeating those errors we’ve been making since the start of the season.”
Addressing concerns about the team’s league position, Di Francesco stated: “It can weigh on us, but we have to think about the next game, freeing ourselves from this thought as soon as possible. From my point of view, in the build-up, we were good at getting to the last 15-20 meters. That’s where we can improve, as well as in our first 20 meters.”
When questioned about striker Joel Pohjanpalo’s impact in Serie A, Di Francesco defended his player: “Currently, he’s our top scorer. He can do more, he too can understand that this league is different, but it’s a leap that the whole team needs to make. If Gasperini made two changes between the first and second half, there’s a reason for that. The continuous goals conceded in this way bother me.”
