30 December 2023
30 December 2023

Udinese v Bologna, Cioffi: “We’ve grown physically and mentally”

The boss praised his team after the match

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“Well done to the lads. Well done to all of them. I won’t single any of them out. Even those who were subbed on showed their experience and enthusiasm. Florian Thauvin has won two World Cups and did brilliantly when he came on. Adam Masina is always so professional. Isaac Success picked up a yellow for wanting to tackle the ball carrier again. Festy Ebosele is adapting better each day thanks to his hard work.
 
“We’re in the flow of things. Finally we brought home those three points. We’ve grown both physically and mentally. We can see that from the points we won at the end of the first half of the season. I don’t think anyone would have imagined that we’d have done what we did.
 
“I’m happy with my players’ mentality. There are no easy starts in reaching our goals. It’ll start to get tricky now and we want to carry on like this, working hard with humility.
 
“We’ve found a different balance and a different mentality this week. We’ve got to continue on this path without placing all of the blame on the forwards if we don’t score or on the defenders if we concede. Thauvin was back in defence today.
 
“A few days rest before Lazio will do us good. We can recharge  and savour this win. We’ll need it.
 
“The lads were atomic. We’ve used up a lot of energy over the past few weeks. We played well but didn’t get our just rewards. Now it’s different.
 
“The fans are the city. The team comes and goes. Today I saw what I had left. I wasn’t the fans’ top choice and I understand that but I’ve kept my head down and I’ve seen a change in their attitude since Torino. The fans are always loyal to Udinese. That not only helped us win but helped us to crush our opposition. I’m sure this is just the start of the impact they will have on us.
 
“I said this would be the best match to happen to us. It allowed us to show who we are and who we want to become.”