Kosta Runjaic and Alessandro Zanoli spoke at the post-match media conference following Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Como. Here's what they had to say:
Runjaic: “First of all, we're very disappointed because we began the game really badly. We lost the duels, gave the ball away and didn't play the way we should have. Como started off well but we knew what to expect. That said, we still managed to create a couple of chances – one with [Nicolo] Zaniolo – in the first half.
“We went in at the break just one goal behind, then we changed formation and put on [Lennon] Miller, who is a young player with fantastic potential. We kept the ball more and took a bolder approach. The second half was very good. It's a shame about [Jurgen] Ekkelenkamp's chance – that could have changed the game. We should have played like that for the whole match. Ultimately we lost because of our first-half performance and another silly penalty we gave away.
“The ups and downs are part of the process when you make lots of changes and bring in players who don't have much experience in Serie A and players like Zaniolo who joined at the end of the transfer window. It's a challenge and it's all part of the game. There are lots of reasons for the inconsistency. There were times when we lacked a bit of quality today. I'm confident we'll settle down.
“Now we have a very important game against Torino and I hope we'll do much better and play both halves the same way. We must be more consistent to perform at the same level. We made it easy for Como in the first half today.
“[Maduka] Okoye is still our first-choice goalkeeper but [Daniele] Padelli did well against Lazio and at this moment in time we thought he had the leadership skills we needed. I don't know if he'll start the next game. That's my decision to make and we'll see how the season goes. He's produced two very good performances.”
Zanoli: “It was a game of two halves today. The change of formation helped to improve things. Como caused problems for us in the first half with their rotations. It was hard for me to switch to [Alberto] Moreno with [Jesus] Rodriguez around. After we changed formation, I stayed on Rodriguez and [Jakub] Piotrowski closed down the full-back. Plus, starting from deeper, it was easier for me to go on the overlap.
“Now we need to find some consistency. We have too many highs and lows: we're capable of causing problems for anyone but we can also struggle against anyone.”