Christian Kabasele was the guest on Udinese Tonight two days after the team's defeat to Inter. During the long chat, the defender spoke about the game, how he's finding life as a regular starter this season and his team-mates.
He began by offering his assessment of the team's performance against Inter.
“We could have done a lot of things better. In the first half we got our pressing wrong and a team like Inter were able to play around us easily. It was too easy for them to get close to our goal. The good thing is we were only 1-0 down at half time and we managed to stay in the game until the end, but we didn't offer enough to trouble [Yann] Sommer. It's not a lack of courage but we need a bit more belief. I think sometimes when we play the big teams we show them too much respect. When we've been more aggressive, we've done well. We have to believe in ourselves and believe that we can give anyone a run for their money. We're halfway there in terms of attaining that real self-belief. We need two or three games in a row when we perform well for 90 minutes so that we can put together a run like we had last February. There's time for us to do that and when we do we can say that we've taken a step forward.”
Kabasele has established himself as a regular starter at the heart of the Udinese defence this season – a role that seemed unthinkable when he first came to Friuli two and a half years ago.
“It's not easy when you only play occasionally and I'm better suited to playing in the middle of a back three rather than left or right centre-back. You also have to consider the settling-in period. I'd just come to a new country and I was living in a hotel for months while I looked for a house. There are lots of reasons why I looked a different player then. The main thing is believing in yourself and I've always done that. I've played over 100 games in the Premier League and in the best Belgium team of all time. I just needed a bit of consistency. Every player takes their own time to settle in but even [Lionel] Messi needed time when he went to PSG. I'd spent seven years in London and I needed to find my balance on and off the pitch.”
Christian also commented on some of his team-mates, starting with fellow defender Thomas Kristensen.
“He was out injured for a while and it's not easy to get back into your stride when you return. We know how good he is, though. There were some big clubs interested in him in the summer and he has the potential to become very good. It's not an easy time for him at the moment but that's normal and it's all part of his development. He has to keep working and I hope he'll be turning in top performances again soon.”
Another young promising young defender is Matteo Palma, who recently joined Sampdoria on loan.
“Before he left, I said to him: 'Do what you usually do. There aren't many players with your ability at 17. Just do what you do in training here.' He's very good at listening to advice from us more experienced players. This is a great opportunity for him to grow and come back next season and perhaps be a first-choice player. He's got the quality but you have to accept that he might make mistakes. He's still developing and mistakes are part of the learning curve. He shouldn't be crucified for his mistakes. He just needs to keep working to become a big player here in the future.”