Andrea Sottil says Udinese must take the positives from their “best performance of the season” against Fiorentina and move on – but with a more clinical edge.
The coach was speaking to the gathered media ahead of his side's visit to Napoli on Wednesday.
“It's good that we get to play again straight away – it helps not think too much about what happened on Sunday and focus on the present,” he began. “I think we produced our best performance of the season against Fiorentina. We came away empty-handed but that's the way forward.
“We made two mistakes which Fiorentina took full advantage of. We have to finish off all the moves and the goalscoring opportunities that we're creating. We've had 75 shots in five games, we've had the third most corners and we're among the highest for key passes. It's not as if we're not producing – we just have to start turning all of that into goals. We need to be more accurate.”
Sottil insisted that he's not buying into the media narrative of Napoli being in a crisis.
“I don't think they're struggling or have dressing-room problems. Anyway, that's not a priority of mine. I'm more concerned with analysing their strengths and weaknesses and coming up with a game plan. My main concern is putting out a strong team capable of causing Napoli problems when we have the ball and defending well against them when we don't.
“Napoli play a more direct brand of football this season. It's less about possession play and more about making the right runs. They know and understand each other's movements perfectly.
“We have to close off the space and not give them time. Our pressing has to be on point, as does our marking and covering play, but the main thing is we play our game. We have to hurt them as we know we can. We showed we have the ability and the quality to do that against Fiorentina. The ball can't always miss the target and the opposition keeper can't always pull off amazing saves.”
Regarding his team selection and squad rotation, the coach explained: “Napoli are strong in all areas of the pitch and I want to put out a starting XI that's just as strong.
“[Roberto] Pereyra is improving but he needs a bit more time to get back to full fitness. [Christian] Kabasele will miss this one but he'll be available for Genoa and Empoli.”
Finally, Sottil commented on some of the criticism that has been directed at his team.
“When you play at this level, you have to be able to take criticism. I always make a distinction between constructive criticism and fans bellyaching. You have to be objective and criticise intelligently because I think the team has improved. Results matter of course and we'll get them by performing well. We're all united and compact here, including the owners. “We're all aware of the situation, of our points and league position, but we're clear-headed, focused and determined to start winning.”