Ferrara: «We must react»

Ciro Ferrara has very few alterantives in attack: with Trezeguet and Iaquinta injured, only Del Piero and Amauri are at the coach’s disposal and the Brazilian due to the gluteus problem suffered during the match against Bordeaux, did not train in the last few days. Ferrara hopes to have him back on Sunday, but should have clearer indications in the next few hours: «He will only be fielded if he is in the right condition to do so. Often, players enter the field with small problems but I don’t know to what extent this problem can limit him». If Amauri is not able to make it, the solutions would be very limited: launching Immobile from the first minute or fielding Del Piero as only striker as was tried during the Friday training session: «For Alessandro, it would be news. Even though, yesterday during tarining we only tried it out because of the absence of Amauri, it is not said that we will use that solution. Immobile has already played. This time it would be different but I do not want to feel conditioned by his age or his lack of experience».

The subject changes to the defeat against Bordeaux and the moment of the team: «The defeats we suffered were clear cut ones, apart from the one against Napoli. We must be clever enough to manage good and bad situations and not feel conditioned. It is clear that the defeat against Bordeaux has bothered us but we must react. The udeal would be to have a certain continuity but it would be wrong to think we can win all the matches. Unbeatable teams do not exost and in our learning curve there are also shortcomings. We must be clever to take note, accept our responsabilities and react together».

After Bordeaux the papers wrote of a critical Diego towards Ferrara and the coach brought an end to the controversy: «Diego came to me to clarify his position and after I spoke to him I am tranquil and satisfied with the fact that he wanted to explain himself. Since he has not played for long in our championship and with a few language problems, his sentences may be interpreted wrongly. I know his idea because he told me face to face and even if he really think what was reported in the papers, I would have answered him directly and not through the media».

Lately even Gigi Buffon spoke, defending the group and Amauri, Melo and Diego in particular after they were at the centre of criticism after the Champions League match: «Gigi’s words made me very happy. It was right to defend three team mates. I don;t think that the moment and the defeat can be attributed to three players. As Isaid, everyone must accept their responsability. This is how it should be in a group. Defending the group must be considered holy and this is why I liked his words: it is in difficult moments that one must be clever enough to react and it is in these moments that real men are seen».

During the press conference the journalists insisted on the fact that Juventus is not performing up to the expectations and Ferrara answered in this manner: «I have been the Juventus coach for 20 matches. Are we doing badly in the championship? I don’t think so. The Champions League is more competitive and it seems to me that Juventus is in line with the other great teams. We could have done more in Bordeaux, both when it comes to result as well as the approach to the match, but otherwise I don’t think that we made a disaster. We are there and we can still qualify».

The coach then tried to bring back attention to Sunday’s match:
«The most dangerous thing for us is that you don’t care about the match against Cagliari. The right tension must be created to play against a team that has shoen strength, organization and brilliance. I don’t think, however, that my players lack concentration: it would be a serious mistake to think of other matches. I am aware that today, in the papers, not much was said about Cagliari. This is the danger and it is up to the intelligence of the players to understand that our objective must be different from that presented by the press».

And the objective is obviously to win on Sunday against a team in great shape: «Cagliari is at team which is well organized and fast. They have players who can hurt us and who attack very well in depth. The team has quality and they showed this even in Milan. It is a very difficult match against one of the helathiest teams of the championship. Not having other weekly commitments, furthermore, they can work well to channel all their energies for the match on Sunday».

Finally, he is asked about the controversy following the chants against Balotelli: «I already answered after the match against Udinese and you know what I think: I am against any form of racism, discrimination and insult against anyone. I do not want to comment about the declarations made by Moratti or Zanetti. Juventus did all it could to stop the chants and even the sentence of the sport authorities confirmed this. I repeat, I am against any kind of insult. When I came here to Turin and heard a chant against Neapolitans I asked myself: “do they have something against me?”. I don;t know what the right road is, the battle is oong and hard, because we Italians have a wrong sports culture: when I see a boy, together with his parent who makes horns towards you as you enter the stadium, I don not understand... If I had to see my son do something similar I would slap him immediately».