Runjaic: "We've shown we can beat teams like Juventus"

Kosta Runjaic held a press conference on Friday, the day before Udinese host Juventus at Bluenergy Stadium. Here is a selection of his comments: 

 

 

“We're going to need an excellent performance to get points against Juventus. They're one of the best teams in Serie A – an attacking team with lots of quality. We've played them twice this season already and unfortunately lost both. Tomorrow we want to play well and get something from the game, with the help of our fans.

 

“We're short on numbers in defence. We have to decide whether or not to include [Oumar] Solet in the squad, but he certainly won't start the game. In any case we'll be ready.

 

“We know how good Juventus are and they should have more points than they do. If we want to beat them, we can't make mistakes. We have potential but we need to work hard on the small details. We've shown we're capable of beating teams like Juventus – and we showed it again at Atalanta. We'll have to make our own luck.”

 

 

“I'm not the Italy coach. [Gennaro] Gattuso is the one who has to decide whether or not to call up [Nicolo] Zaniolo. He's in great form and he's working very hard. He needed a bit of time to get up to full speed. He's had two serious injuries in his career and that can have a psychological impact but he's 100% from that perspective too now. 

 

"I hope he can inspire the team again tomorrow. When he's on song, he makes the difference and his energy rubs off on his team-mates. He'd like to get an Italy recall. He'll do his best to perform well tomorrow but he can't influence others matters directly.”

 

 

“We deserved the point in Bergamo. We had chances to score a third and could have won it. We didn't change formation in the second half but we responded to the situation.

 

"[Branimir] Mlacic is very young and he hasn't been here long. He's ready to play but we don't want to rush things. Perhaps it's too early for him to play an entire game on a yellow. He could play tomorrow but I don't know if he'll start. We've seen he needs to mature. It was a difficult game and he did well but I want to give him time.

 

"There are lots of experts giving their opinions but we see things from the inside and we know what players can do and the risks we need to assess. For example, do we want to take the risk of starting Solet tomorrow? There are lots of things to consider.”