Stroppa: ‘Not sure the game would be played’

Just before the match against

, there were footages of floods in the Calabria town which authorities were saving trapped people from their homes and cars.

“There were some real concerns we wouldn’t be able to play, and in the first few minutes the pitch did get worse, but fortunately the rain began to ease and the wind calmed down too, so that allowed us to play a half-decent football match,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.

“The pitch seemed to be in perfect condition this morning, but when we arrived at the stadium, the situation deteriorated.

“We want to send our love to the people of

during this difficult situation. There were a few clips that we saw on our phones, but we were assured the situation was under control and above all that there was no loss of life.”

and

scored 2 goals to decide for Lazio 2-0 victory.

“Lazio showed they were able to adapt to the conditions and play a ‘dirtier’ game than they are accustomed to. We could’ve done more, but we were up against a stronger team.

“I said in the press conference beforehand that we create the chances, so that’s the important thing, and now we need to convert more of those opportunities so we are not so sterile.

“We’ve had good performances, but you need to put the ball in the back of the net and that is not just a technical or tactical issue. It’s about choices and in some situations the inability to finish things off.

“We are on the right track and have to keep going until we convert more of these many chances.”

Stroppa was asked if Crotone need a new center-forward to help or even replace Nwankwo Simy?

He responded: “Well, talk to the President! We’ve been without

for about six weeks,

got injured early on too, so we didn’t really have the chance to rotate the squad and bring in fresh legs.”