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Gabbiadini's interview


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ITALY'S FIRST FOOTBALL NEWS SITE

 

Gabbiadini: ‘Tottenham the most surprising club, Benitez my favourite manager’

20 October at 10:41

Southampton star Manolo Gabbiadini has released an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport to discuss his experience in the Premier League.

 

Six goals in the first two games in England, what happened then?

“I picked up an injury, I was happy and I had settled in well. Then something changed, we played in a different way, we were more defensive and everything became more difficult. The last one was an important season.”

 

Why did you chose Southampton?

“There were other options but I wanted to come to the Premier League. Southampton is comfortable, you are close to London and from there I can go to Bologna with three flights a day. I also thought about it when I moved here. I love Bologna. I played my first important season there and I met the girl who has now became by wife.”

 

Why did you struggle with Napoli?

“It was an important moment of my career. I was living in an amazing place, Posillipo, surrounded by amazing people and good friends. It was a honour for me to play for Napoli. They have a great manager. Sarri is my favourite manager alongside Benitez. I was also on very good terms with Mihajlovic and Pioli.”

 

What about the national team?

“The Word Cup is my objective, the azzurri shirt has something special. We have 51% of chances to qualify for the World Cup. It would be a disaster for players of my generation.”

 

Most surprising Premier League club?

“Tottenham but right now Manchester City are doing great, Guardiola has accepted some habits of English football.”

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Got to be wary of the translation but it's pretty clear he blames the tactics for his lack of goals. Was there a big shift between his early run and the rest of the season?

 

Not as far as I can tell - other than us taking the foot off the pedal as the season petered out. More or less the same group of players -no injuries of note- and the same inconsistencies -playing better away from home than at home.

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Not as far as I can tell - other than us taking the foot off the pedal as the season petered out. More or less the same group of players -no injuries of note- and the same inconsistencies -playing better away from home than at home.

 

It's a strange one, I don't think our tactics changed particularly, but for some reason things clicked when Gabbiadini first arrived and it felt like he was the piece of the puzzle we had been missing. Sunderland, Watford & the League Cup final stood out.

 

Although those games were all away from home, I don't think we played like a typical away side - 62% possession vs Watford and 54% vs Sunderland, and we all remember how much we dominated the game vs United. It was almost as though our frailties at the back after losing van Dijk meant we had to try and outscore the opposition instead and Puel took the shackles off a bit (or maybe I'm clutching at straws with that hypothesis). Strange, and a shame, that we reverted to type again so soon though, even once Gabbiadini came back from injury.

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Got to be wary of the translation but it's pretty clear he blames the tactics for his lack of goals. Was there a big shift between his early run and the rest of the season?

 

It might just be my foggy memory but I seem to remember his initial run coinciding with Tadic playing directly behind him and Ward-Prowse playing right hand side. We seemed to be looking for him early with both crosses and through balls. Tadic then reverted to right wing, slowing things down out wide and JWP to the middle, therefore no early through balls.

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Got to be wary of the translation but it's pretty clear he blames the tactics for his lack of goals. Was there a big shift between his early run and the rest of the season?

 

Yes, we went far more defensive at the end of the season under Puel. It was dire. Less bodies in the box (some achievement in itself) and the resultant run of games with no goals at home.

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Yes, we went far more defensive at the end of the season under Puel. It was dire. Less bodies in the box (some achievement in itself) and the resultant run of games with no goals at home.

 

It's bizarre, Gabbiadini came in and struck up an instant understanding with Tadic who seemed to relish having a striker making intelligent runs and played much more incisive passes than he had all season because of it - then it was almost as if Puel told him to reign it in. Sure he probably gave the ball away more times than he had done, but he was also creating goals.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Italy surely must have an array of attacking options, why are they picking a striker from little old Southampton.

 

Amazing how far we've come tbh. Or, how low Italy have fallen, depending on your point of view.

 

well, italy have failed to qualify for the world cup for the first time in 60 years

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