Kosta Runjaic held a media conference on Friday ahead of Udinese's visit to Como. This is what he had to say:
Open training session and Como
“The open training session was a nice moment and I want to thank the fans. There were lots of people and a great energy on and off the pitch. We want to grow with our fans by supporting each other and giving our all. It was a nice way to end the year.
“It's a new year now and our first game is against young team with a lot of quality. They've spent a lot of money and they're up there in the top eight – both in terms of squad quality and their league position. You can see their coach's hand: they have a clear playing style and I admire them. They went out and made specific signings to implement a clear idea. With the right investment you can do that. It's good to see a 'new' team emerging in a tough league like Serie A. They're very good at home. They'll have more of the ball than us and they'll press us high. Out of possession their movement is good and when they have the ball they use it well. We're going to have to work hard on the pitch but we're ready. When we're focused and united we can give anyone a game. Tomorrow we want to produce a good version of Udinese. Last season we lost badly in Como, conceding some sloppy goals, but it's a different situation now. We're motivated to give our all. We must work as a unit defensively and play football too. I can't wait to play against such a fascinating team.”
Nico Paz
“We're going to have to defend well as a team to limit Nico Paz, who is a player with incredible quality. We have a player like that ourselves, Arthur Atta, but he's not ready for this game. We're working to have him available for Torino. HE's slowly working his way back. You can't keep players like that completely quiet so our team play will be important, especially as Como don't only have Nico Paz. Against teams like this, the individual duels become even more important. We must be totally focused and cause problems for Como.”
Rotation and goalkeepers
“We've had time to recover from our last game so we won't make that many changes. I haven't decided about the goalkeeper yet. [Daniele] Padelli did really well against Lazio. All the players have our full confidence and must be ready to play.”
Left flank
“[Nicola] Bertola has done really well on the left wing. He played there out of necessity, gave it his best and it work well. We were a bit surprised ourselves. However, he's first and foremost a centre-back. I wouldn't rule anything out but we bout him to play in defnce. [Hassane] Kamara has recovered and is ready to start. [Jordan] Zemura is getting better and could return to full training by the end of next week. In Como we could start with Kamara or Bertola could continue there.”
Solet
“[Oumar] Solet has a little problem. He's played lots of games and his style of play uses up a lot of energy. I don't want to say who will start but whoever comes to Come could play. That's why Atta is not in the squad. We'd rather he stayed behind to train individually. Solet is available but I Can't tell you if he'll definitely start.”