Fabio Cannavaro said he was confident his team would get the job done going into their relegation decider against Frosinone, after Udinese sealed a 1-0 to beat the drop.
“I was calmer than before the Empoli game because I could see the players were behaving differently,” he said. “I knew we'd produced a big performance.”
Keinan Davis grabbed the match-winning goal, having been stuck on the sidelines most of the season with injury.
“His absence affected the team because a player like that can turn a match for you. I didn't know whether or not to field him from the start. We opted to give Bremer the chance from the off. But all the lads were exceptional.”
Victory means Cannavaro completed the task he was brought in for – avoiding relegation from Serie A.
“I don't think I need to prove anything to anyone. I've been working around the world the last ten years and one bad experience, like at Benevento, or one good one, like this, doesn't change my judgement. Ever since I started out in football, I've always worked three times as hard to achieve things and I'll keep doing that. Our aim was to stay up and it meant a lot to me because Udinese are one of Italy's historic clubs. Tomorrow we'll think about other things.
“The lads listened to me and my staff from day one. They need to understand the different spells of a game and listen to the opposition fans too. We worked on lots of little details and they did a great job.
“We started off really well today, then we found ourselves on the back foot and Frosinone made it hard for us but we didn't let up. We had to focus on our game and not Empoli's and we managed to do that.”
The coach finished by commenting on the team's defensive solidity since he took over.
“Strikers sell season tickets and defenders win league titles. Football has changed but we must understand there are two phases of the game: with the ball and without the ball. When you don't have the ball, you need every player to run.”