5 October 2008

Ranieri: «An unexpected false start, we apologize to the fans»

Three rounds later than last year, the team have lost their first match of the season. And just like last year, the first defeat came at home. It happened against Palermo, at the end of a none-too-brilliant period, at least in terms of the results.

Claudio Ranieri made no easy excuse and this is how he analyzed the squad's current period: «A false start would've been conceivable last year, when we didn't know each other. This year we were convinced we’d repeat the same start to the season as last year, but it's not happening, so we apologize to the fans for this. We're trying to do our best, but there are problems. Today, in the second half, we attacked more than Palermo, but we conceded the goal straight after I'd put on Camoranesi and Nedved to try and win. Unfortunately we were unable to play the ball on the ground to feed the strikers and Giovinco. We had more personality up until recently, now we've lost ourselves a bit. Now there's this break, which would be a good thing if I had all the players available, but what with all the international games, very few players will stay here to train with me».