Vincenzo Italiano refuses to solely blame M’Bala Nzola and Lucas Beltran for Fiorentina‘s attacking woes and reveals Giacomo Bonaventura won’t be available against Genk on Thursday.
Fiorentina host Belgian side Genk in a Conference League group stage game tomorrow when a win would send the Tuscans to the knockout phase with a game to spare.
Italiano’s men lost 1-0 away at Milan on Saturday, wasting several opportunities to equalise.
“We have a different spirit in the Conference League. We must focus on this game, which is fundamental and decisive,” Italiano said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“We can qualify with a victory, so we need maximum commitment. We must make up for a bad moment in Serie A and be more clinical in attack. There is a lot at stake, so we must give all we have.”
Strikers Nzola and Beltran are in the spotlight, having scored only two goals each this term.
“They haven’t scored many goals, but our attacking midfielder [Giacomo Bonaventura] has netted five times and Gonzalez six,” noted Italiano.
“It’s just the beginning and the strikers are working for the team. They have to improve, but we used to score with different players not long ago, and now we are waiting for Nzola and Beltran. Even without their goals, we were still able to win.
“This situation doesn’t make us happy, but all the lads want to show they are different, so we should not lose confidence and enthusiasm. We’ll get satisfaction through daily work, everyone must feel decisive when it comes to finishing.”
Italiano said that Michael Kayode would be available tomorrow while Oliver Christensen will start in goal but “Jack [Bonaventura], [Rolando] Mandragora and [Pietro] Comuzzo” have been ruled out.
Maxime Lopez is expected to start in the middle of the park in place of Arthur. The ex-Sassuolo midfielder had already replaced his teammate during the break of Saturday’s game against Milan.
“Maxime and the other midfielders know what I expect,” said Italiano.
“He joined a new group and I’ve seen him changing lately. He is more involved and free in his head. I liked so much the way he played against Milan and I’ve told him that he must earn playing time during the week because we have many decisive players in the middle.”