Runjaic: “A different match from the one in Milan, but that won’t make it any easier”

Coach Kosta Runjaic held a press conference ahead of Udinese’s match against Parma on Saturday. Here is what he had to say.

 

“No Serie A match is ever easy, regardless of the stage of the campaign. We’re on the right path; we have six matchdays left to give it our all and finish the season as best we can. Our game against Milan will be remembered by many, but we want this entire season to be a memorable one. Parma are a good team with several talented players; they have the youngest squad of the season. It will be a different match from the one in Milan, but that won’t make it any easier. We must put into practice what we’ve prepared, be focused and bring intensity, passion as well as quality. [Keinan] Davis won’t be playing, but we have everything we need to do well and pick up all three points, which is our objective.”

 

“You may be seeing the front three like against Como. Regardless of that, I’ll make sure we’ll play with the best formation possible. The players know what they need to do. They know each other very well now and work well together. We’ll need discipline in defence and play well when in possession. We’ll have more of the ball than last week, so we mustn’t lose patience when Parma sit deep. They’re good on the transition. They have a good forward who’s great at holding up the ball and a ball-playing goalkeeper. We need to be careful, we need intensity and try to win it. We won’t have Davis or [Jordan] Zemura – a few more weeks will be necessary – [Nicolo] Bertola has some physical problems and won’t be called up, as we want to play it safe. [Adam] Buksa will and has had an extra week of training.”

 

“I’m happy that last summer Gueye chose to join Udinese. He’s a talented player, but talent isn’t enough. You need resilience, hard work, patience and much more to improve. He’s working well. He’s always improving but still has a lot to learn. You can see his improvements on the pitch. In recent matches he was more comfortable with the ball. I hope he’ll keep up the good work. He’s not ready to start yet, but when he is I won’t hesitate to choose him. We have a nice balance in our squad this season. The players who joined the club last year have put into practice what they were taught and the new ones are learning. Every player needs his own amount of time to grow and one’s age is also an important factor. Gueye is still young and he also comes from a different country and learned to play in a different way. Of course, Lamine Yamal is younger than him and plays, but it’s a different foundation. If Idrissa had that potential, he wouldn’t be here. Each player develops in his own way and the club helps every player succeed. I am happy with Gueye’s work as I am of all our young players.”

 

“We’ll see what we’ve achieved once the season is over. Our goal now is to pick up as many points as we can, starting from tomorrow. We want to stay focused on what’s happening now and not dwell on the future. We don’t want to be influenced by other people’s comments. We want to be completely focused on Parma. After that, we’ll think about our next match. Our goal is to reach 50 points. It would be a great improvement, but to achieve it we need to pick up points starting from tomorrow against Parma.”