Parma, 12 September 2025- Comments from Coach Carlos Cuesta made during the press conference ahead of the third league match against Cagliari, held in the Mutti Training Centre press room in Collecchio.

EVERY MATCH IS IMPORTANT AND WORTH THREE POINTS

“The match against Cagliari is the same as any other; it’s important and worth three points, all the matches are worth the same, and we’re focused on being as ready as possible for the game on Saturday. We started the campaign against Juventus because, as I said, the first game is worth three points, so is the second, and the third, as well as the 33rd, and even the 38th game is worth three points. And so, I’m always working on trying to prepare the team as much as possible to play competitively during the matches, and it has to be competitive against Cagliari, and we need to be ready to deliver a great performance. We will face a Cagliari side that is well organised and very clear in their ideas. I’ve seen Pisacane’s Cagliari, and I saw a team that represents him well, his values, and his footballing philosophy. It’s a compact team with clear aims to attack to maximise vertical play, and they also have good attacking organisation when building from the back. It will definitely be a difficult match. But we will try to be smart and create the game we want to play. The three-man solution with Cutrone and Oristanio behind Pellegrino? We’ve done it before, so it’s definitely possible to do it again, but it’s also possible we will try new things we’ve never done before. We’ll see.”

THE PLAYERS ARE THE STARTING POINT

“For me, as I said in my first press conference, the players are always the starting point. The coach’s job is to work within that given context: the players, the league, their past experiences, and where they feel strongest. The aim is to help them display their strengths while also becoming as well-rounded and competitive as possible. Right from the start, we’ve focused on doing what’s right for the team. Against Atalanta, at times we built the play more slowly, while in other situations we went longer, depending on the space available and our intentions. Sometimes, if you want to play more vertically and make the most of space, you do one thing; other times, when you want to progress more slowly, stay compact, and make use of the free man, you do something else. Our intentions are always backed up by what we do on the pitch.”

FOCUS ON OUR GAME

“In both the first and second halves (referring to the matches against Juventus and Atalanta), there are many similarities. We definitely had opportunities to play in the opponent’s half, and in the second half, we had more chances to play with greater fluidity in our attack. What we’d like is to maintain the same level of play for 95 minutes, as for when we’ll achieve that, I’m not sure. We know that in Cagliari, we should expect a game where we’ll need to be smart to play our own game, but we’ll also need to adapt to the way they want to play. There will be different situations, so we must stay fully focused on our game and on what we need to do to take the match in our favour. That’s always our focus.”

WE’VE WORKED WELL IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS

“It’s true we’ve had little time, and it’s also true that there have been some absences, but in this case, more than refining, it was an important chance to get started. We began with certainty about who we are and who we will be from now until the end. Now it’s time to start the process with more stability. This period has been very important in allowing us to identify the aspects that will be key to our style of play, and especially for starting to build chemistry among the players and team members. We’ve been working on developing our game plan further. Ultimately, we haven’t had much time; we had one week, and in that week, we played Virtus Entella, so preparation time was limited. Some players were unavailable for that match due to illness. This week has been a mix of growth work and preparation for the match against Cagliari. Does Parma rely more on the left flank than the right? That might be what it seems like, but to me, both our ‘chains’ have different characteristics, and both can progress and create threats. I think we’ve worked on both sides, not just one.”

A START, ALL TOGETHER

“It’s true that the journey began weeks ago, but when I spoke about the start of a journey, I was referring to it in terms of everyone together. While some players were with their national teams, many were with us. We can expect to see a Parma similar to what we’ve seen so far, because our goal is to strengthen our strengths, while also trying out some aspects we’ve analysed and might improve. At the end of the day, it’s a process. Rome wasn’t built in two, three, or four days. You need time to organise things and set priorities. Also, when you try to develop certain aspects, some take longer than others. What we will aim for is to be better than we were in the match against Atalanta. It will be a Parma similar to that match. What are we missing? We’re working to improve every day. The process is never finished; from my first to my last day here, I will always believe there is room for improvement, because that’s how any growth process works. In the same way, we will always try to be as competitive as possible. And we are confident that we will get stronger by the day.”

PROUD OF CIRCATI’S NATIONAL TEAM PERFORMANCE

“Alessandro came back happy and proud, eager to be here with us, but also pleased to have represented his country as captain, the youngest in over 40 years in Australia’s history. It was a source of pride for us. We wanted him with us right away, but at the same time, we were very happy for the experience he had.”