Vincenzo Montella: I cannot accept criticism that lacks logic.

Turkey will travel to Italy for their fourth UEFA Nations League Group A match. Head coach Vincenzo Montella stated that his team remains eager to compete and challenge themselves at this level, but emphasized that he will not accept illogical criticism.

After losing 0-3 to Belgium in the last round of the group stage, Türkiye is currently ranked last in Group A.

Turkey's head coach Vincenzo Montella said, "We wanted to win and compete at this level, and we also wanted to challenge ourselves. For most of the three matches, we showed competitiveness, and the games were close for a long time, with the exception of the match against Italy."

"We are now highly motivated and looking forward to seeing what happens next, and we are eager to achieve a good result because simply playing evenly with our opponents is not enough."

It is worth noting that Yildiz, Calhanoglu, and Guler will be unable to participate in the match against Italy due to injuries and other reasons.

However, Vincenzo Montella stated, "These players are very important to us, just as they are to their respective clubs. But this is also a good opportunity to give other players a chance and to further evaluate them. I believe that even without these players, we can still remain competitive and strive to bring victory home."

“I’m used to how things work in football, and I understand and accept those things. But I can’t accept criticism that’s illogical. I can fully accept criticism that I think is constructive. This is the first time in Turkey’s history that we’ve participated in the UEFA Nations League A, and I’m the only coach to have led the team to this level.”

Vincenzo Montella pointed out, "Of course we would like to play more competitively like we did against France, or perform like we did in the second half against Italy, but our problem right now is the difficulty in scoring goals. Against Belgium, we entered their penalty area 42 times, and I even wondered what else I could do?"

"Someone asked me if I knew a striker who scored nearly 100 goals in the Turkish third division, and I later found out he was 32 years old. If he is a player we can develop, I would certainly consider bringing him into the team, but this kind of illogical criticism really makes me sad."

In addition, Vincenzo Montella said, "I understand everyone's frustration at being eliminated from the World Cup so early, but it's true that we went into the tournament with a core squad plagued by injuries and in poor form. People can interpret it differently, but there are always new goals and opportunities in football, so we must learn from that elimination."

“I am full of determination and motivation, and as a head coach, I always approach things with passion and a pure heart. That is my current mindset. Although I am very familiar with the cruel rules of football, I never want to think about these things negatively.”

Image source: Internet