TNT Sports
Capello lashes out
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Published 16/01/2003 at 13:06 GMT
AS Roma coach Fabio Capello has broken more than a month of press silence to hit back at allegations that his team is divided and demotivated. "I know how to pull a squad together when it counts," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Eurosport
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AS Roma coach Fabio Capello has broken more than a month of press silence to hit back at
allegations that his team is divided and demotivated. "I know how to pull a squad together when it counts," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"This isn't the hardest time since I've been at Roma," he
added. "Certainly, only God is perfect and I've made mistakes,
but that's the nature of the job and I deal with problems every
day."
Players and staff had been under orders not to speak
publicly after losing 1-0 to AC Milan at the beginning of
December.
Roma have had a turbulent season so far. A 1-0 loss at the
weekend to Chievo Verona added to earlier losses to Bologna,
Modena, Parma and Milan leaving the club in eighth place in
Serie A.
Fans jeered out-of-form striker Gabriel Batistuta during the
Chievo match, while an injury to Inter Milan's Hernan Crespo has
fuelled speculation that they might be about to bring in
Batistuta as a replacement.
On Thursday, La Gazzetta reported that Roma's president,
Franco Sensi, had given Inter permission to talk to Batistuta
about a move north before the transfer deadline of January 31.
Capello defended his players from accusations that they are
not giving 100 percent.
"I didn't hear them (the whistles) and in any case Cafu and
Batistuta would not deserve them because they've never held back
on the pitch.
"I saw that (Roma midfielder) Lima was whistled and it made
me sorry. The fans shouldn't forget all the success we've given
them in the last few years."
Of his own future, Capello said he was looking forward only
as far as Thursday's Italian Cup quarter-final match against
Serie B side Vicenza.
"Vicenza are a team in great form -- just like Triestina,
who we eliminated (in the last round).
"I'm curious to see the new midfield pairing of Emerson and
(Olivier) Dacourt at work."
Roma, he insisted, were still strong, but lapses in
concentration meant they gave away too many last-minute goals,
like Chievo's 89th-minute winner.
"The match against Chievo was the photocopy of the one
against Bologna. That was the first game of the season: it's
been the same story from that moment on."
The Press, he said, had already written off Roma's chances
of winning anything this season.
"It's better that way -- it'll give us all a stimulus to do
better."
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