Walter Mazzarri insists Torino “didn’t deserve to lose and dominated possession” against Wolves, but “we can still do it” in the Europa League play-off.
The Granata have a huge task ahead of them to turn this around after a 3-2 home defeat, as the second leg of this play-off is at Molineaux next Thursday.
It had seemed practically impossible at 3-1, but a late Andrea Belotti penalty left some hope.
“We started a little tense, we took too long to pass the ball around and we didn’t have the fluid passing that we usually do. Even though we had 12 shots on goal and 63 per cent possession, we didn’t make the most of it,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“Wolves showed their greatest strength was the counter-attack, pace and powerful players who surge forward. They showed that against all the big English clubs too, not just us.
“We made some defensive errors that we don’t usually make and the result was excessive. We didn’t deserve to lose. Wolves have extraordinary financial resources and so naturally when they can pay €40m for a single player, they’re going to have a lot of quality in the squad.
“We were meant to double up on the goal with Adama Traore, Soualiho Meite was meant to double the marking, but he stopped half-way and that left a big gap. We should’ve chased them down with greater vehemence.
“We should’ve been more courageous in pressing Raul Jimenez, who is such a talent. These games are decided on incidents, we hit the crossbar and they scored at the first real chance. People say they want possession, but football is something else. We saw today that we dominated possession and still lost 3-2.
“Football is strange, we will try to go there and play with less apprehension, more of a relaxed approach, and maybe it’ll be a different game.
“I believe, I want the team to believe with me and if we play the way we have done in the past, we can still do it.”
Mazzarri commented on the fact Torino originally weren’t meant to be in the Europa League preliminary rounds, as they were ‘promoted’ by Milan pulling out due to Financial Fair Play issues.
“It’s been a difficult summer, as we were rushing the whole time. We had to organise pre-season training and an earlier start at the last minute, then some players came late due to the Copa America or Africa Cup of Nations. Anyway, I don’t want alibis.”