Andrea Sottil began his pre-match interview before Sunday's match against Lazio by expressing his delight at the news of his contract extension for a further year.
“I'm very happy and proud to continue this wonderful journey,” the coach told Udinese TV. “I want to say a special thank you to the Pozzo family for placing their trust in me to coach this team this season and next. I also want to thank [Pierpaolo] Marino and all the players because they've listened to me and we've improved together. And of course I'm thankful to the fans for showing me their support even in the harder times. I'm a passionate person and I love my work so we now have to finish the season the best way we possibly can.”
On Lazio:
“It's going to be difficult. Lazio like to keep the ball with all their give and gos. They have lots of skilful players. [Maurizio] Sarri wants fast-flowing ball circulation, with overlapping full-backs and midfielders getting forward. We've analysed them and prepared for them.
“We have a duty first of all to produce a good performance at home in front of our fans because they really do give us an extra gear. We need to be solid, focused, determined and play well because we've shown we have the quality to hurt Lazio. However, we must be extremely smart and careful when defending.”
On Udinese's differing home and away form:
“We know we don't have a good away record. We should have done better on the road and it's a lesson we must learn for the future. That's where winning mentality comes into it – always maintaining your focus on winning. We must continue with our home form as we want to finish as high up the table as possible.”