Ventura: “There was a great response, you need patience with youngsters”

“90 per cent of our mistakes came from inexperience and the rest from carelessness,” said Ventura. “You want patience with young players on the pitch but again there was a great response in terms of character. There were ten minutes where we lost control and when we didn’t play as Italy must, but we were then able to react and take the win. These are steps that need to be made but I am convinced that they can do us some good. Immobile? He did his job but for 15 minutes nobody did their jobs. At the end we pushed them hard, we’re getting there slowly.” The Azzurri goalscoring hero Ciro Immobile also spoke after his brace: “In the second half, we came out a bit soft and we didn’t know how to react to conceding which is why we went 2-1 down. At places like this, you can’t make any mistakes or they’ll eat you alive. It was important to win for the group, for the manager and after the work we did during the week. We played well in the first half today after a good second against Spain. It’s just a shame about the minutes where we got worse after their second goal. However, we’re on the right road and with the ruthlessness that we want. Now, we have to go and book our place in Russia.” Marco Veratti said Italy deserved to win: “It was a tough game, Macedonia found their way back into the game thanks to an error of mine. We went through ten minutes of confusion, but we managed to turn the result around and show that we are a great team. We deserved the three points.” Andrea Belotti, who scored the opening goal in Skopje, noticed all of the Azzurri’s big heart: “We were all a bit worried in the end, but we have managed to come away with a crucial win. It was a difficult game, they were dangerous on the counterattacks, but we played with our heart. I am happy with my goal and even happier for these three points that will be very important in our quest to qualify for the next World Cup.” ]]>