Serie C 2024/25: Triestina-Giana Erminio postmatch

After the Triestina-Giana Erminio match, which ended in a 0-1 defeat for the hosts, Pep Clotet spoke in the press room.

Clotet:

"I think, regarding the incident with the red card, the reaction was justified; that sending off should never happen in football. Krollis is here on loan, representing another club that sent him here, and he does this to Triestina, to the club that entrusted him to us, and to the game itself. What went through my mind? To tell you the truth, I have an eight-year-old son who saw this today. I come from a culture where this kind of behavior is simply unacceptable—if a player does something like this on the street, there would be legal consequences. It’s not normal, and we must not accept it in any way. Out of respect for myself as a coach, Krollis is finished with Triestina. I told him exactly this face to face; with me as coach, he’s done with Triestina from today.

Regarding the game, at the beginning we were caught a bit off guard by Giana; they came out with a 5-3-2 setup, and it took us a bit to find our rhythm and adapt to the game. But as the minutes passed, the team was recovering well, defending effectively, positioning better on the field, and had created more than a few promising chances to be dangerous. Unfortunately, the red card was a hard blow. I have no complaints about the players who gave their all to hold the draw and tried to create some chances from set plays, which we nearly managed to do, despite our opponents’ clear dominance in possession.

I chose Vallocchia because when he came on against Pro Patria, he played with humility and commitment, always looking to help the team, and I thought he deserved the opportunity; it’s always essential to put the team before ourselves. We responded well to the numerical disadvantage, but getting out of the situation we’re in is challenging with this kind of error—we need to stay more focused. The mindset isn’t right; we have to understand what Serie C football is, managing key moments of the game, and this is an individual responsibility. We have several players who are still adjusting, and evidently, many don’t yet understand this—I’ve said this from day one. On top of that, a significant factor is that we concede goals in the final minutes because this team still doesn’t have the physical level it should by now. Without the experience to manage certain situations, the difficulties increase for all of us. I only look at the team above us in the standings; when I arrived, we were three points behind, today we’re one point away with a chance to enter the playout zone, which could have been a step forward. Instead, we’re still one point behind, with one extra game played. Now I have to focus only on the next game, on the team in front of us, and on not throwing matches away like this, because each game is one fewer opportunity we have to capitalize on.

As for the pitch conditions, it’s clear this isn’t a field where football can be played. I don’t know what has been done or what happened, but playing football here is not possible. The turf doesn’t hold, and that’s an added burden for each player, especially for ours, who are still trying to regain their physical fitness. It’s not my place to say, but a pitch like this isn’t fit for playing football, and it poses even greater risks than the two injuries we had tonight. It’s a field where a player could tear an ACL or sustain a similar injury. But again, it’s not for me to say. As for tonight’s injuries, Germano seems to have a strain in his right quadriceps; he stopped immediately, and with some treatment, I think he should be available again soon. For Frare, it may be a muscular issue; his foot didn’t plant properly in the turf, and his leg overstretched. We’ll see what the medical tests say, but this is yet another situation that should not be happening.”