In an interview with Sky Sport Italia ahead of his side’s match against Bologna, Maurizio Sarri spoke at length about the current state of his team, as well as what he expects from the rest of the season. The manager was also keen to play down rumours of a falling out with Miralem Pjanić, with the Bosnian reportedly on his way out of the club.
“Losing a trophy is always something that weighs on you, there’s deception and bitterness. But this is how the situation is, we need to turn the page and think about the next games without letting ourselves be influenced by something that’s already been lost. Hopefully we can improve quickly in the next ten days, be it in physical or mental terms.”
“[Ronaldo] has scored 700 goals from a slightly wide position, and clearly that position is his preference. Yesterday [Saturday] I spoke with Cristiano, alone for a long time. He shouldn’t lose faith, hopefully he can start playing again like the fantastic player he’s always been.”
“We don’t have a lot of alternative solutions in terms of pure attackers, we have more on the wing with Cuadrado and Bernardeschi. Right now it’s more important to monitor a player’s recovery that anything else.”
“The story of my falling out with Pjanić is one of the biggest fake stories of the season. I speak a lot with Miralem, he’s one of the guys with whom I talk the most and have the best rapport with. In these last two games Pjanić has played like the rest of the squad, starting off well then dropping off later on. For tomorrow’s game we’ll see how he is then we’ll decide. Of course we don’t have many options in that role for the 90 minutes – Ramsey is more fit for a part of the game rather than the full 90.”
