Kosta Runjaic delivered a pre-match press conference ahead of his side’s away day in Lecce. Here’s what the coach had to say:
“[Keinan] Davis had a better week than the last one – he’s trained with the group twice and is available for selection. He needs time to reach top form, but he’s already taken a step forward. He’ll train today with us and travel to Lecce. As for establishing consistency in our results, this is exactly what we’re working on. We know that not everything can always turn out well, but we’re trying to hone how we set ourselves up away from home and that’s where we’re at going into this Lecce game. They’re a very good team and we know what’s in stall for us. It’s great to have so many players available.
“In the last few weeks we’ve achieved stability and we’re feeling more relaxed. It’s clear that we’ve taken a step forward but from a technical point of view we can still improve. We gave Empoli some good goalscoring opportunities and we need to improve in this regard. We need to be alert, focused and always overcome our limits. The idea is to maintain concentration levels regardless of who we’re up against. We’ve seen many positive things, but there’s room for improvement. In football you can’t rest on your laurels - if you don’t give your all on the pitch then you’ll play badly. Tomorrow we’ll have to give everything, run a lot, play as a team, be stable at the back and enjoy the occasion, because we’re in a good place right now. The team chemistry is ever improving, the players are further developing and can get even better. The players’ individual qualities are increasingly shining on the pitch as well. We must continue like this to improve as a team.
“We have to improve in one-on-one situations, which is a very important part of football. In these duels you have to make sure everything goes well. [Hassane] Kamara and [Jurgen] Ekkelenkamp need to coordinate their movements and understand each other. Communication is important and I’ve seen that we’ve improved in training. We’re very satisfied with the team's developments but we can certainly defend better. Lecce are a team that don’t see a lot of the ball but they’re great in transitions. They’ve got pacy players on the right flank and a really mobile striker. We need to avoid certain situations, be better with the ball at our feet and know how to react immediately, especially in defence. We have to be smart, quick and attentive so as not to miss anything that happens on the pitch and we have to anticipate how the game can pan out in individual situations. These are the things we are working on.
“[Simone] Pafundi is a top talent but he’s still young. He’s still got to train hard, absorb all of the information he’s given and learn from the more experienced players. His willingness to learn is key for me. He also needs to hone his physique. He’s not at the stage where he can play from the start but he’s on the right track. We must be patient and keep on working on him, because if you lack patience you risk making the wrong decisions for the lad’s career. Work combined with talent allows a player to improve and he’ll be sure to take a big leap forward. He’ll certainly get game time and maybe we’ll get to the point where he’ll be starting matches. I’m really happy with how he’s doing.
"[Maduka] Okoye isn’t training with the team yet, but I think in a week or two he’ll be able to take part in training again. He’s improving. [Isaak] Toure will need months to recover from injury. Hopefully he can make some good progress and then we’ll see what we do.
"I want my players to improve and accumulate minutes, but I don’t think me as the coach needs to motivate them – just look at the league table. We want to do the best we can. At this moment we can’t rest on our laurels, in fact we need to take advantage of this purple patch to get as many points on the board as possible. We’ve already improved compared to last season and every player wants to improve even more.
“We knew all about [Oumar] Solet’s qualities, but we wondered how we’d bring this on the pitch and how quickly he’d be able to adapt. This has turned out well for us. Oumar is a calm and fun guy, plus he’s a top footballer. He’s got a good physique and we’re working to make him improve more and more. He gives a lot to the team with his game intelligence and his strength. In the past he featured as a midfielder so he’s also good at passing and leading the team. He works well with [Jaka] Bijol - they understood each other right from the start. He’s brought the team stability. I hope he stays in shape and that his performances go from strength to strength.”