Udinese came away from Bologna with one point after Sunday afternoon’s draw. The match marked Fabio Cannavaro’s first full game in charge. Here’s what the coach had to say.
“I need to get into the lads’ heads and get rid of their fear. We need sacrifice and solidity. We were good as a team today. I liked everyone’s attitude, but we have to improve our control. Thinking we always need to be behind our opponents makes things difficult. But overall, I’m happy with the lads.” The coach expressed some regret over Keinan Davis hitting the post in the 95th minute. “A post can change your whole season. We need to believe that.”
Lazar Samardzic proved himself to be a constant threat for Bologna’s defence in today’s match. “Since getting here, I’ve tried to speak to all the lads, him included. Today I was angry because he lost too many balls. He needs to understand they’ll put double or triple the amount of men on him so he’s got to improve his ball control. He has some great qualities and he’s a crucial player for us. He attacked by directing his body towards goal, especially in the first half and we came close to scoring. When we really tried to play, we created some great chances.
“The lads gave a great response. Recently they’ve been sitting too low and passing the ball forward for no reason. That happened again today at points. We have to improve this. I’m concentrating on playing good football and putting moves together. I like a tough team.”
Cannavaro responded with a smile when asked about what Thiago Motta had to say about the little time the ball was in play. “Both teams lost a lot of time today. If I look back at the footage of the Saelemaekers goal, you can see that my keeper got knocked.
“Okoye’s position is a particular one. A keeper is on their own so they have to deal with any mistakes on their own. We need to understand that he saved us in other situations. These things happen. We need to be fully focused, as we were at other points of the game. We didn’t give away much to Bologna, who are playing some of the best football in Italy and create so many chances.”
Today’s game against Bologna was Cannavaro’s first full game as head coach of Udinese. “It was hard to prepare for that match against Roma, but I’m happy because I saw the lads implement what we’ve been working on throughout today’s game. It’s only by staying switched on that we can stay up. I need to bring out my team’s qualities and try and limit our opponents. We were good at limiting Bologna today.”