This is what Kosta Runjaic had to say when he held a news conference on Saturday ahead of Udinese's next Serie A match, away to Bologna on Monday evening.
Solet and Bologna
“Oumar trained partly with the team for the first time today. Tomorrow he'll do the full session and then we'll decide whether or not to include him in the squad.
“We know what to expect on Monday: Bologna are a very good team. Their league position doesn't reflect their real potential. In the reverse fixture we paid the price for some individual errors and we'll keep that in mind. We're going to need a good performance. We know how good they are. They play a very aggressive brand of football based on duels – a similar playing style to Roma and Atalanta. We'll need to fight harder than our opponents and give everything we've got while maintaining our focus. We're going to have to run a lot, strike the right balance between attacking and defending and make sure we take the chances we get”
Build-up to the game
“I don't think Bologna playing in the Europa League gives us an advantage. They rotated on Thursday and have a strong squad so they can rotate without losing quality. They could afford to keep [Riccardo] Orsolini on the bench and that says a lot about how deep a squad they have. It's true that they had a long journey but they have time to recover before Monday. We can't influence they way they prepare for the game; we can only influence our own preparations. I hope we can play well and not make mistakes like against Sassuolo and in the reverse fixture. It's important that we are aggressive, focused, willing to dig in and make the most of the chances we create. In the last two games, we've fashioned some good openings but haven't been able to capitalise. We must try to make things happen with our intensity – that will be crucial against a side like Bologna who play man for man.”
Buksa and Mlacic
“[Adam] Buksa has trained with the team and is ready to play. He can't wait, also because his season hasn't gone the way he hoped so far because of injuries. He's an important player for us with experience and quality and I'm happy to have him available. Now we have a few more options in attack and hopefully we'll get [Keinan] Davis back in a few weeks' time too. Buksa could start and that's a good thing.
“[Branimir] Mlacic is young. He played some games in Croatia and is very talented. He's also got the right character for Udinese but we don't know yet if he'll be able to contribute this season. We need to work more with him. He's a positive lad who trains well. He's happy to be here and he's been welcomed in well. He's taken a big leap going from Croatia to Italy and we need to be patient. We're taking things one step at a time. If needed, he can play, but we have other players in his position who are more ready for Serie A.”
Attacking and defending
“You have to create your own opportunities on the pitch by playing with the right tempo in the final third and making the most of the work you do to get there. Against Sassuolo we didn't do well going forward or defensively: you can't concede goals like we did. You can't give a striker that much space in the box. Our problem is we keep making silly mistakes and that's why we're conceding too many goals. We must do better. When we're focused and everyone does their job defensively we're able to perform well and keep a clean sheet but we didn't do that against Sassuolo. Attacking play is very important but defensive play is essential.
"You can train attacking manoeuvres up to the final part of the pitch then other factors come into play. We're working with our forwards to improve, especially with youngsters like [Idrissa] Gueye. Besides Davis he's perhaps our best striker of the ball but he needs to improve in other areas, and if we want to give him the right balls the others needs to create the right openings – everyone needs to make the right decisions.
“Some of our players need to improve and it takes time but everyone develops in a different ways. With Davis we perhaps need to work more on fitness. [Nicolo] Zaniolo creates lots of chances but maybe needs to improve his finishing and so on. We work on different things with different players. Then on the pitch it's up to the individual player to make the right decisions. It comes down to fine details.”
Bologna's strengths
“We know that Bologna are good in transition. They have fast players who know how to exploit the opposition's mistakes. We need to cut down our mistakes and be ready to deal with their physicality and pace. They won't give us much space. They'll press high. We have to be accurate with the ball and open up gaps with our off-the-ball movement and then make the most of them.
“We also need to make the right decisions in each situation and maintain our shape. In the reverse leg when they were 2-0 up we lost the ball while building play, they created a chance out of it and punished us – that's the sort of thing we need to avoid.
“They played on a poor pitch against Brann and had less possession than their opponents but they took advantage of a second ball, scored and then held on till the end. That's the sort of thing we need to get better at: being solid in defence, ready for anything and go into the challenges determined.”
Ekkelenkamp
“[Jurgen] Ekkelenkamp has done well in recent weeks. He creates chances, works hard for the team and puts in a lot of running. Sometimes I'd like to see him carry the ball forward more and show more belief when he does. He's very disciplined defensively, although he didn't get back quickly against Sassuolo when they scored. He always puts in a shift and I'm happy with him but we can expect more from him. After his injury at the start of the season, he went through a not-so-good spell, but he's doing very well now. He can play in various positions including wide midfield, but he's not a winger. We don't have any wingers in our squad. He needs to find another level. He has room for growth and we can see progress on the training ground, although it doesn't always translate into matches.”
Kamara
“[Hassane] Kamara won't be coming to Bologna with us. He's training separately and is improving but he had an injury and he needs time. We're optimistic about having him back in full training next week but we want to be careful. It will be good to have him back because we're a little short on numbers – which is why we've drafted some of the Primavera lads for training sessions – and having two players vying for the same position is motivation for both of them. Competition is essential.”