Kosta Runjaic held a media conference on Friday to discuss Udinese's match against Lecce. Read on to find out what he had to say.
“It's an important match for us but it is for Lecce too. We've been working with a lot of focus and attention to detail. We've lost our last two games and we need to start getting points on the board again now.
“We played well against Inter for large parts of the game but it wasn't enough. The lads know we've made progress but we must do better still. We need to be consistent against Lecce, play with energy and perform well if we want to get the three points.
“It will be a different game to the one against Inter. Lecce have good players who can cause problems for you. I'm happy to be able to play in front of our fans again.
“[Thomas] Kristensen won't make it but [Hassane] Kamara and [Lautaro] Giannetti have trained and they'll be available for selection. We'll make a late decision on [Florian] Thauvin. He picked up a painful knock and didn't train for two days after the match. We need to assess him but we have a good squad and we'll do everything we can to come away with the three points.
“We made mistakes against Inter and were punished for it. You can't gift those chances to teams like Inter. We've learnt from our mistakes and we need even better concentration levels to avoid repeating them. It's always difficult when you go behind, no matter who you're playing. We've talked about it as a team and I'm sure we'll improve. We gave the ball away too often and the goals Inter scored came from transitions where we lost the ball. I showed those situations to the team, we spoke about them together and I hope we'll make fewer mistakes in our coming games. I also hope we'll use the ball better. We must reduce mistakes to a bare minimum.
“Beating Lecce is our absolute priority. We've prepared for it as we prepare for all our games. We're becoming more and more solid by the week but we need more time to get the machine oiled properly, especially in defence.
“We used the same formation against Inter as we did against Parma and we'll probably use it again tomorrow. I want to see the team running more and more like clockwork. It's a process: the players need to get to know each other and gel.
“[Christian] Kabasele and [Jordan] Zemura will play and we'll field the same back three for the second game in a row. I hope to see better communication. They need to play together and get to know each other.
“We need to do better when we have the ball and when we're defending, but we also need to be more decisive in the final third.
“We'll go with the same defence as in the last game, with Zemura on the left and Kingsley [Ehizibue] on the right. I hope their understanding improves as a team. The players are all playing their part. I want us to be compact and defend as a unit. We played well against Inter but they played well too and you only need look at the players they can rotate in to realise what sort of a team they are. Tomorrow is another match and there are no excuses. We must go out there and play with confidence and self-belief and hopefully win at home in front of our fans.
“I don't know if [Lorenzo] Lucca and [Keinan] Davis will play together but we have to think about substitutions too. They've never played together before and Davis doesn't have 90 minutes in him yet. He's improved and he played well against Inter but we have to be careful not to overdo it with him. We want to have a healthy squad throughout the season. Lucca could play with [Iker] Bravo or Brenner – those are our options. In future Lucca and Davis could play together.”
“Zemura put in a tidy performance against Inter but he's still some way off where he could be. He's a quality player. He's agile, mobile, he can run with the ball but he still needs to add something in the final third. That's only one aspect though. The defensive side is important and we need a lot of intensity there. He's shown he's got great stamina, like Kamara. I'm happy to have the two of them.
“Kamara is available again now and wants his place back. As a coach, you can count yourself lucky if you have two players who are similar but offer different qualities in the same position. I want to weight things up carefully before making a decision but I want to give Kamara time to get back up to match speed.
“I'm happy to have [Jurgen] Ekkelenkamp because he's versatile: he can play in a midfield three or further up in the hole. He's fast and skilful. Against Lazio he played out wide because of the circumstances but we don't see him in that position and nor does he. He plays where the team needs him. We want to see even better performances from him. He might start tomorrow. We have several options. We'll see if he starts in the middle.
“We aim to get all the injured players back after the break. [Martin] Payero was on the receiving end of a nasty foul. His foot is swollen but nothing is broken. We were lucky because there's a deep wound where he was trodden on, as if he'd been stabbed. Our physios are looking after him and hopefully he'll be available again, if not immediately after the break, for the game against Cagliari.
“Kristensen is on the mend. He won't go away on international duty and we'll do everything we can to have him back after the break.
“[Alexis] Sanchez is with us every day. We'll need to wait a bit before he can return. Now he's going to start with running drills, then he'll join in with the team. I don't have a precise timeframe because if I say something that's not true the doctors will get angry. We're going to need another three or four weeks. We can't wait to have him back with us.
“[Sandi] Lovric had a minor problem in training and withdrew as a precaution. He did personalised work today. We'll look at his condition but it's not comparable to our other injuries. We'll see if it's worth the risk to play him. I can't give you a precise answer.”