Luca Gotti was a happy man after Udinese survived a tricky first half to run out as 3-0 winners against Venezia.
“There are no easy games,” the boss began. It's easy to talk about it afterwards but the first half was played at a very high tempo. There was a 20-25 minute spell when both teams were running really hard. The good thing was we got the opener as that set us on our way.”
Team captain Bram Nuytinck criticised Udinese's failure to get a grip on the game in a half-time interview – something Gotti largely agreed with.
“Bram was right of course, but then it doesn't depend entirely on us. There's another team trying to play their game and Venezia were really going for it, chasing and harrying us.
“We tried to attack them and break at pace and that made for end-to-end football at times, which was tough physically. Once we took the lead, we started to control the game better.
“There are lots of positives to take from this game. [Ignacio] Pussetto's goal is the result of the incredible effort he's showed to get back to his best as quickly as possible. He came back early to start pre-season so he could get himself fit again and tried not to miss a single training session in 50 days. This goal is the result of all the hard work he's put in.
“Bram was right of course, but then it doesn't depend entirely on us. There's another team trying to play their game and Venezia were really going for it, chasing and harrying us.
“We tried to attack them and break at pace and that made for end-to-end football at times, which was tough physically. Once we took the lead, we started to control the game better.
“There are lots of positives to take from this game. [Ignacio] Pussetto's goal is the result of the incredible effort he's showed to get back to his best as quickly as possible. He came back early to start pre-season so he could get himself fit again and tried not to miss a single training session in 50 days. This goal is the result of all the hard work he's put in.
"Another thing I'm very happy about is [Marco] Silvestri making two excellent saves and showing the fans what an excellent keeper he is.
"Finally, I want to say a word about [Destiny] Udogie: he came on for three minutes with the mindset of giving his all for three minutes. These little things make a difference.
“I hate playing with the transfer window open because lots of players can be unsettled. Once the window shuts everyone knows that's the group we'll have going forward and we can work more calmly and in the knowledge that we've done well in our first few games.”
"Finally, I want to say a word about [Destiny] Udogie: he came on for three minutes with the mindset of giving his all for three minutes. These little things make a difference.
“I hate playing with the transfer window open because lots of players can be unsettled. Once the window shuts everyone knows that's the group we'll have going forward and we can work more calmly and in the knowledge that we've done well in our first few games.”