Roberto De Zerbi insists Sassuolo could not have done more against Perugia, despite their 2-1 defeat to go out of the Coppa Italia.
Sassuolo were stunned by two first-half goals from the Serie B side, who held on to set up a last-16 tie with Napoli next month.
“I don't have to give anyone a dressing-down,” De Zerbi said after the game.
“We had a good game. Those who played did what they could. Some of the lads aren’t ready yet: many of them played for the first time in official competition.
Roberto De Zerbi insists Sassuolo could not have done more against Perugia, despite their 2-1 defeat to go out of the Coppa Italia.
Sassuolo were stunned by two first-half goals from the Serie B side, who held on to set up a last-16 tie with Napoli next month.
“I don't have to give anyone a dressing-down,” De Zerbi said after the game.
“We had a good game. Those who played did what they could. Some of the lads aren’t ready yet: many of them played for the first time in official competition.
“Going out of the competition bothers us. We wanted to go through, but when you play so many young players you have to accept they’ll make mistakes.
“Some of our players weren’t ready to play after Sunday’s game and we had seven injured.
“We lost to two set-pieces and had 18 attempts on goal: we played the right match.
“We’ve done well for a few weeks now and we must keep going like this. I mustn’t stop at the result.”
The Neroverdi were without captain Domenico Berardi, while Luca Mazzitelli was taken off before the hour mark.
“Berardi started training with us again on Monday and I was tempted to put him on the bench, but I preferred not to risk him.
“Mazzitelli had a muscular problem. He has so much quality competition in the middle of the park: there are players ready in front of him.”