Udinese Coach Andrea Stramaccioni believes the Coppa Italia is an important target for the Zebrette this season.
Udinese are not playing in Europe this season, and though Stramaccioni insists the Friuli side’s goal this season is simply to avoid relegation, the former Inter Coach is also keen to do well in the Cup.
“Our main aim is safety,” Stramaccioni insisted in his Press conference ahead of of the visit of Cesena in the competition tomorrow.
Udinese Coach Andrea Stramaccioni believes the Coppa Italia is an important target for the Zebrette this season.
Udinese are not playing in Europe this season, and though Stramaccioni insists the Friuli side’s goal this season is simply to avoid relegation, the former Inter Coach is also keen to do well in the Cup.
“Our main aim is safety,” Stramaccioni insisted in his Press conference ahead of of the visit of Cesena in the competition tomorrow.
“However, I think that in a season where you’re not in European competition, the Cup is an important goal.
“The way it’s set up means you can’t make any mistakes, because small moments can be decisive.
“Our match will be one of the few meetings between two Serie A teams, and it will certainly be a hard-fought game.”
After a good start to the season, the Zebrette are without a win in five Serie A games, going down 2-0 to Milan at the weekend and falling to ninth in the table.
Despite his side’s indifferent League form, Stramaccioni believes that his side can turn things around, starting with a win tomorrow night.
“Some teams have 18 points and feel as though they’re top of the League, we have that and feel angry.
“We need to separate results from performances, which aren’t matching up at the moment. It’s up to me to find the solution, to make up for what we’re lacking from a performance point of view.
“The easiest way to turn things around is to win again, and we want to do that tomorrow night.
“Our last top performance was against Atalanta, and we won.
“We lost against Fiorentina and Genoa, conceding seven goals in the process after trying to play openly.
“Four or five games ago we rose to an excellent position in the table, we raised the bar and now we’ve taken a step back. The team didn’t do the things that allowed them to win points in the first few games.
“I’m not looking for excuses, but it’s important for us to get the key players that are missing back in the team as soon as possible.
“In this respect, I’m happy that Gabriel Silva has returned to the pitch and [Silvan] Widmer is available.
“If we can win, we’ll change people’s opinions of us, just as happened in our last match with Milan.
“Up until they went 1-0 up, derision was raining down upon them because they hadn’t won in five games. After they won it was all forgotten.”
The Udinese Coach also confirmed that Simone Scuffet will start in goal, and will be first-choice ‘keeper for Cup games.
“Will Scuffet play? Yes, but it’s not about rotation, it’s something we’d already decided,” Stramaccioni explained.
“We’d been clear about that in pre-season. It’s no coincidence that Simone also played [in the last Coppa Italia game] against Ternana.
“He’ll be in goal tomorrow, as per our plan.”