Paulo Sousa feels Salernitana’s poor finishing is ‘costing us points’ after the 4-0 defeat to Inter and is not shaken by reports he could be sacked. ‘I can only focus on things that I can control.’
The situation is getting rather concerning for Salernitana now, who have not been able to keep a single clean sheet this season.
They have only three draws from seven rounds, earned against Roma, Udinese and Frosinone.
Antonio Candreva was badly missed through injury, while the return of Boulaye Dia to the starting XI for the first time in over a month failed to give them the spark they wanted.
Mateusz Legowski did have the ball in the net against Inter for what would’ve been 1-1, but he was caught offside, after which Lautaro Martinez ran riot with a total four goals.
“Inter created in the first 10-15 minutes with changes of pace to get into the penalty area, but then my team grew and started to believe. I think until the opening goal, it was a pretty even match, not just threatening in transition, but also closing the lines and going with a high press. We should’ve made more of those chances,” Sousa told Sky Sport Italia.
“After the goal and of course the introduction of Lautaro, that gave Inter a sparkle, freshness and quality. At the same time, we didn’t help because we let our heads drop and that allowed Inter to create a much bigger scoreline than it really warranted.”
Sousa was spotted speaking to President Danilo Iervolino on the touchline during the warm-up and there are inevitably reports that the coach could be fired if he doesn’t turn the season around quickly.
“I am very calm and aware of the work that we have been doing since the first day to improve the potential of the squad, get new players settled in as quickly as possible, knowing also that there are players like Lassana Coulibaly and Boulaye Dia who lift the level of the team.
“I have for many years been at peace with my own work, I accept that this media talk is part and parcel of the football world, I cannot control it, so I can only focus on things that I can control.
“There are lads here who want to see football in a different way and help this club to get results, to secure Serie A safety.”
Curiously, Salernitana have never scored the opening goal this season, as their only points were achieved in comeback draws.
“This also happened a lot last season, we managed a lot of comebacks. We are working hard to improve our work off the ball, especially defending in a low block, because we are always stronger defending by pushing up.
“I think we are creating even more scoring opportunities than we did last season, but we are rock bottom in terms of converting them and that is costing us points.”
