Runjaic: "A crucial match for them and for us"

Kosta Runjaic sat down with the media on Friday to look ahead to Sunday's game against Fiorentina. This is what he had to say:

 

 

“It was good to win against Napoli. We played very well but you can always improve. We're on the right path. We've shown what we can do against a big team. Now we need consistency and that's what we're working towards. Against Napoli the players reproduced what they've already shown me in training. The win was good for us and our confidence. Now we must go again against Fiorentina. It's going to be a different type of game but we're 100% focused on doing well.”

 

 

“[Nicolo] Bertola produced a top performance against a player in fine form such as [David] Neres. He's not a wing-back but he made himself available and he played well both defensively and going forward. I'm happy. We're seeing the results of his hard work. He's getting better with every game and he has huge potential. 

 

“We're still working on the defensive side. We did well against Napoli but we have to repeat that in our coming games – thats's how football is. It made me very happy to see my players never letting up and showing the desire, the anger almost, to go and score again after having two goals disallowed.”

 

 

“Fiorentina are a good team. They have [Edin] Dzeko and [Moise] Kean, who both scored lots of goals last season, and plenty of other good players. The season they've had just shows that you can never make calculations in football. Who would have expected to see them bottom at this stage? They're like a boxer on the ropes and that's the worst kind of opponent you can face. We know it's going to be difficult. It's a crucial match for them but it is for us too. We're totally focused. We want to go out there with the right energy and give it everything we have by working as a team and wait for our chances. We want a big performance to build on the good things we showed against Napoli and to get a result. I'm optimistic. I see how hard the lads work in training. We've prepared in the usual way, concentrating a lot on the defensive side. If we can be solid at the back, we'll have opportunities in attack.”