Bari, 14 January 2023 – The words of sporting director Mauro Pederzoli, released at the end of Bari vs. Parma, on Matchday 20 of Serie BKT.
“We leave with a heavy defeat, which we have to accept and we have to compliment Bari. The match immediately goes uphill when you’re down, we didn’t start in the best way. And at 15 minutes we had already conceded two goals, at that point everything becomes more difficult. It’s such a shame, especially for our fans who follow us and are always there for us. The team has shown its value many times before, today it didn’t show it, so now heads down and full throttle and we’re already thinking about the next one. Football offers revenge and we must be ready for Perugia.
“We are a very young team and what characterises youth is erratic performances. We bet on our youngsters and look ahead. Our main goal is to recover injured players, and after they have recovered we have to wait for them to regain their best condition. On the emotional wave of today’s game it would be easy to talk about the window, but I want to reiterate that we are vigilant and attentive to the market, but we have great confidence in the players we have. I say this at a time when it would be easy to say the opposite.
“It is a deserved defeat, a defeat that gives us great disappointment, which came after a sub-par performance. We didn’t expect a game like this and the first apology is for our people, for those who follow us and above all for those who came here and endured a long and costly trip. Bitter defeat. The cup fatigue is there, both physically and mentally. The San Siro match was very demanding, given the environment and the calibre of the opponent. I think there was time to recover, there are no big excuses. This team is not used to seeing such heavy defeats, let’s take it as a single blip and from tomorrow head down and work. There are no more speeches to be made, football offers immediate revenge. The seven defeats? We wanted to start the second half of the season differently, it didn’t turn out that way. We continue to believe in ourselves and in what we do. We remain convinced of the values we have, we have expressed them, we lost a game, now it’s our turn. Talking is also difficult at this moment, but you have to be brave. From tomorrow morning we go back to work”.
“Cheddira? Bari had a right of redemption that they exercised, then the economic terms were changed to focus more on a participation in an eventual resale rather than a sum to be cashed in immediately. Choices must be made and they must be contextualised at the time they are made. Congratulations also to him for what he is doing’.
“From tomorrow morning we will meet at the sports centre, we will not take any action. Right now the boys are aware of what happened, they are professionals, there is the desire in them to redeem themselves. We need to raise awareness in general. The market? The evaluations are the result of the retreat, we have convictions, every performance takes away or puts in, we cannot follow the emotional wave and it would be a mistake to do so.”
