Torino boss Walter Mazzarri ‘didn’t like’ his side’s ‘careless’ second-half display against Debrecen, warning ‘you grow with performances, not results.’
Toro comprehensively beat Debrecen 4-1 in the second leg of their Europa League second-round qualifier on Thursday, but Mazzarri was unhappy with how his team let the Hungarians back into the game.
“We started with the right attitude, but we knew it would be more difficult than the first leg,” he said after the match.
“I didn’t like our performance in the second half, we were frantic. Having given our opponents the possibility to take courage must serve as a lesson for us.
“I don’t like it when the team lose identity. When the goalkeeper makes too many saves, it means the team aren’t playing well and Sirigu made too many saves in the second half.
“We won’t always win the first leg 3-0. I didn’t want us to concede that goal. Our performance fluctuated. We were careless. You grow with performances, not results.
“Baselli had a problem and I preferred to take him off, also because Rincon needed minutes in his legs.
“I had to change formation and used him as a central midfielder so Belotti and Zaza could play. He did well until the team became stretched.”
Andrea Belotti and Simone Zaza both got on the scoresheet, so can they play together?
“They played together last season. Zaza had a full preseason this summer, but if they want to play together they must have more chemistry, otherwise the team risk getting stretched.
“I can’t say where we’ll end up, but I insist on the performance and not on the result. We must grow and, to do so, we need different performances to the one we gave in the second half.”
