Vincenzo Italiano is glad Dan Ndoye ‘finally’ broke his goal drought with a double and trusts his Bologna teammates can follow suit after crushing Venezia 3-0. ‘We could have many, many more goals.’
The Rossoblu were in dire need of a boost after two consecutive defeats to Lazio in Serie A and Lille in the Champions League.
Despite again being terribly wasteful in front of goal, Italiano’s men benefited from two fairly soft penalty kicks and the third was set up for Dan Ndoye by impressive substitute Riccardo Orsolini.
“I am pleased with the reaction after two defeats, this is where you can see the team is alive and has character. This game was very, very important for many reasons, that is one of them, another is our position in the table,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“I am glad that Ndoye finally scored, that Orso came off the bench, scored and assisted. This is what we wanted, because if we had failed to get a result this evening too, it would’ve affected our morale.
“I think thanks to this victory we are gearing up for the Coppa Italia in good shape.”
They will be back on the pitch on Tuesday in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 against Monza, then visit Juventus next Saturday in Serie A.
Italiano sees Bologna progress
Italiano’s Bologna still have a game in hand to be played against Milan, a fixture that was called off due to flood warnings in the city, but are still on 21 points from 13 Serie A games.
It is an impressive haul, especially compared to their Champions League results, where they scraped one point and one goal scored in five rounds.
“Playing every three days, we need to do our training during the matches, as there is practically no time to prepare games. This is an area where we need to grow and I saw in 95 minutes that we showed improvement,” continued Italiano.
“The second half was better than the first, we shook off the issues of recent matches, won back the ball repeatedly. It’s true we need to score more goals considering our chances and have to improve in our finishing, but it was a good result.”
Bologna caused a shock by finishing fifth in Serie A last season and qualifying for the Champions League, so are they aiming to get back in next term?
“I already said in our most recent press conference, it’s good that we are closing the gap and need to stay in the slipstream of the top sides. We’ve got to hang in there and try to reach the midway stage of the season in that position,” added Italiano.
“The Champions League is helping us to grow and get stronger, it is a learning curve for the team. As Jose Mourinho says, the Champions League is a tournament where details make the difference and perhaps this is where we are lacking. I don’t know if it’s experience, quality or attitude, but our performances have overall been good in Europe, we just lose because of details.
“We’ve been able to cause huge problems for quality opponents and tend to keep the game alive until the closing stages. There are three games to go, you never know what will happen if some of those strikers wake up one day and decide to thump them into the top corner.”
With tonight’s brace, Ndoye took his career total to three Serie A goals, while Thijs Dallinga is still waiting for his first in the Bologna jersey.
“Ndoye honestly could’ve had many, many more goals in Serie A and Europe. He has to focus and apply himself in training, because he’s got the quality, he just needs to learn how to get that ball in the net,” concluded Italiano.
“Dallinga also needs to be more efficient in front of goal, but he is showing more dynamism, he’s more involved in what the team is doing and I am convinced he too will break his duck soon.”
