Collecchio, 3 December 2022 – Head Coach Domenico Panico has spoken on the eve of Sassuolo vs. Parma, scheduled for Sunday 4 December 2022 at 12:30 CET, at stadio comunale Enzo Ricci in Sassuolo, for matchday 11 in Women’s Serie A TIM.
Domenico Panico, it’s the day before the trip to Sassuolo, the only side Parma have beaten this season…
“It’s a very important game: we realise that and we’ve prepared for it in a good way, I think…”
You’ve prepared for it well, is anyone back from injury or are you still with the same squad?
“We’ve not got anyone new back, but the squad is ready: we’ve had an extra week to work with those coming back from injury, and have been working on everything. From a physical and mental point of view, we’ve just had two costly games, so we’ve tried to analyse them well in order to prepare the game with Sassuolo in the best possible way.”
You’ve had less preparation time than usual after the game with Inter on Monday evening, which was preceded by a long break…
“This week has been different to others’, definitely, because we finished late on Monday evening and were already back in training the day after. We’ve had to work in a slightly different way this week, thus I think we’re heading into tomorrow’s game in as best shape as possible…”
Sassuolo are doing better now than at the start of the season, when Parma snatched the three points: they are picking up, but without looking too much at the results, also the Crociate are looking better after the last two performances…
“We’re facing the league’s in-form team, who are unbeaten in four, of which two were big wins against Pomigliano and Sampdoria, so it’s a side in full swing: we know the quality they possess, even before their recent run of form because it takes time to iron things out and get playing as you want. They have an excellent, experienced Head Coach who is doing a great job there. It’s going to be a really tough game for us, as they all are: we need to try and get more points on the board, and that starts from tomorrow. We’re coming into the game on the back of two excellent performances against very strong sides, who along with Roma, are aiming to win the title. We are aware of what we can do, and will go there and play our game.”
After two games against sides at the top end of the table, this is the first one against teams in and around you in your tenure so far…
“On paper, we’re facing a side who have a similar quality to us: some experienced players, some coming from abroad, and young players looking to launch their careers; it’s a well-designed squad, just as ours is. The table says it’s a six-pointer, even if at the start of the year Sassuolo were probably aiming higher, but they are now getting back on track and I think they’ll finish the season strongly. We just need to concentrate on ourselves regardless of the opposition and the moment: we need to think about improving, working hard, as we are doing, and staying relaxed even if the table doesn’t look great; we know our worth. The girls know what they’re about and we need to keep working on this, because also tomorrow it’s going to be a hard match and we need to get points. But we can’t let this make us stressed; we must keep our focus on the task in hand. We mustn’t think about how many points we’ve got, this mustn’t get us down us mentally. We must try to remain clam, determined, as we are, looking to impose our style in the game, yet still be aware of the opposition. I hope to see more quality in our play and ball possession tomorrow. We need to get our forwards and midfielders in the right positions to be able to get shots off on goal and put Sassuolo under pressure.”
Another aspect to sort out is closing out games and avoiding late comebacks as seen in the games with Juventus and Inter…
“We know that we have to be right on our game tactically, also because in certain areas of the pitch we are outnumbered at times. But we have just faced two sides, who during the course of the game, brought on further quality. With five changes, Juventus and Inter can turn a game on its head. Sassuolo, for its part, have some great players on the bench, and obviously when the time’s right will look to change the game. We have worked even harder this week on some players’ athletic stamina who maybe haven’t had the minutes in their legs they need, due to not playing enough previously. We’ve also worked on tactics and the right mentality to have when closing out games, because we mustn’t forget that we haven’t won a game for a long time and so it’s natural that there’s some fear and trepidation towards the end of a game. Against Juve, we were stunned in stoppage-time, and we put in an almost perfect performance for 70 minutes against Inter before they came back into it. Our next step is to try and see out a game: against Inter the game management situation was different because there were still ten minutes plus six minutes of stoppage time to play, so 16 minutes in total. The team showed great intelligence and calmness, because we could have been affected from the previous game against Juventus, instead we showed great maturity and learnt from it. And if the same situation comes about again tomorrow, I hope that we’re good enough to stay concentrated and focused right to the last second, because those points are precious for us and the league standings.”
