West Ham’s Emerson believes the Hammers will need to change their game dramatically against Fiorentina tomorrow night given the “foul, foul, foul” attitude so prevalent in Italy.
We have all seen it time and again but Emerson is one West Ham player who as an Italian international understands exactly what may happen.
He started when Italy beat England in the Euro 2020 final and could become the first player to win the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
He has experience of big games and is confident West Ham will handle the occasion but looks likely to be on the bench, with Aaron Cresswell expected to start at left-back.
However, he will be giving David Moues and the backroom team some valuable information on how the opposition will approach the game and introduce their unpleasant tactics as promised by their manager
On the game generally he said: “Fiorentina play so aggressive, one against one all over the pitch, so they try to stop the game and its their style.
“It is good for them because when you press high you need to make some fouls. It is normal in football but we need to take this on and try to find the space in behind them.”
He added: “It is the style. In Italy I know it very well. They work a lot of tactics and small details. They try to change the game with corners and free-kicks and this is one more thing they do.
With the Italians it is like this – to defend, attack, make some fouls. It is their mentality and we need to respect this but we need to put our mentality and our game on them as well.
“I like English football more – more attacking and more football for the fans. When you play against opponents like this, it is not easy.
When we play people like this, when they try to stop the game, mentally you want to do something different and then it is foul, foul, foul. We need to try to find a solution.”
By Hughie Southon