Gabriele Cioffi spoke to Udinese TV on Friday ahead of his side's visit to Genoa – a 15:00 CET kick-off on Saturday afternoon.
This is your third game in a week and comes after a very tiring 120 minutes against Lazio. What shape is the team in?
“Our fitness levels are a real unknown quantity at the moment. Against Lazio I think we worked very well together as a team and for each other. We read the game well too, but we certainly weren't 100% fit.”
Will you make changes against Genoa given all the games you have at the moment?
“Nothing much has changed since Atalanta. We'll have to look at things tomorrow and make our decisions.”
You're starting to get players back but haven't had much time to train together. How have things been throughout this whole Covid situation?
“The staff, players and management are very much united. We know that feeling sorry for ourselves won't get us any points and we need points so we've decided to accept the situation and just get on with it.”
What do you make of Filip Benkovic and Pablo Mari and how do you think they can contribute?
“They're both solid players, albeit with different levels of fitness. We've brought in two players who will improve us. They'll be ready at different times but unfortunately we can't really wait at the moment. They know they'll have to be ready and they'll have to give their all.”
Is tomorrow's match even more difficult since Genoa are in desperate need of points and have a new coach?
“Every match is difficult but we can't waste energy thinking about Genoa and their coach. We're channelling all our energy into ourselves, on being solid and compact and on maintaining the mentality we've forged.”