Serie C 2024/25: Pergolettese-Triestina postmatch

After Triestina’s 1-0 defeat against Pergolettese in Crema, Pep Clotet spoke to the press.

Clotet:

“I saw a team that worked hard throughout the week, focusing on mentality and adjusting the formation to make us more aggressive and offensive. The intensity and desire were there in our performance, though we still need to improve our physical condition. Right now, it feels like everything that can go wrong does go wrong. We allowed just three attacks: we defended two well, but on one we made an avoidable foul. However, I’d like to shift the focus; we created several chances, with shots that had me thinking, ‘This is it’ – like Braima early on and Olivieri in the second half. We need to score because if we don’t, it becomes a lottery, and we risk paying the price. Triestina should have scored at least once today, and that’s where our focus needs to be. It’s true that the goal we conceded at the end reflects our season so far, but I remain confident and hopeful after what I saw today. With hard work and sacrifice, we can turn things around by taking the positives and improving where we fell short.

We are, and will continue, working on both the mental and physical conditioning. Today is a real disappointment, and the team is clearly down because they saw that they controlled much of the game and deserved more. But football is like that, and in situations like this, it’s hard to break free. The key now is to quickly put this match behind us, take the positives, correct the negatives, and go back to fight again on Wednesday. How do we get through this? By fighting together, staying united, working hard, and having faith.

We’ve gotten a few players back, and we’ll see if Voca can rejoin the squad next week. Once everyone is back, we need to get them in top shape, as some have been out for a while. This is a tough time for Triestina, but by working in training and continuing to create chances as we did today, we’ll eventually get a breakthrough, and confidence will follow. I believe in these players. Lastly, I want to send my regards and thanks to our fans who came all this way. At the end of the game, they applauded because they saw that the team gave it everything, and that means a lot to us. Knowing that the fans understood our effort despite the result, recognizing that their team fought with them, is hugely important for the players.”