Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi wants to see the ‘desire to win’ against Udinese and confirmed Domenico Berardi and Francesco Caputo are back.
The first match of Serie A Week 7 takes place at the Mapei Stadium, when the Friuli visit the Neroverdi on Friday night.
After the big 2-0 win against Napoli last time, De Zerbi wants to look ahead ‘without superficiality and carelessness’ against the Bianconeri.
Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi wants to see the ‘desire to win’ against Udinese and confirmed Domenico Berardi and Francesco Caputo are back.
The first match of Serie A Week 7 takes place at the Mapei Stadium, when the Friuli visit the Neroverdi on Friday night.
After the big 2-0 win against Napoli last time, De Zerbi wants to look ahead ‘without superficiality and carelessness’ against the Bianconeri.
“The points remain, the fact of having played a great match,” De Zerbi said at a press conference. “We were lucky enough to find a tired Napoli from the commitment in the Europa League.
“But in my opinion, we played a great game, as we wanted to do. We respected Napoli and respected ourselves.
“We suffered from some lost balls, but overall, we played a great match. But that’s gone, now we must think about tomorrow, which is just as difficult.
“We have to enter the pitch with the desire to play well, to win, to take care of the details and without any form of superficiality and carelessness.”
The Neroverdi coach is aware of the danger of taking Udinese lightly and expects a tough game against Luca Gotti’s men.
“We have always suffered against Udinese,” he added. “It’s a team that inevitably suffers a little, try not to play openly but take advantage of their qualities.
“They defend deep and try to counter. When a team that wants to play finds a team with these characteristics, they happen to suffer.
“But we have a high knowledge of a match like that tomorrow, which doesn’t mean winning but not even being caught unprepared.
“Udinese have more quality players than last year; they have very strong people up front. I don’t know what problems they might have, and we consider tomorrow’s match a very difficult game.”
Sassuolo are second in Serie A after six rounds of fixtures and De Zerbi said his men must enjoy the moment.
“We have to live the moment with happiness and enthusiasm, not neglecting anything in our attention, not thinking of ourselves as better than we actually are.
“If we were to feel better, I would lose my head. At the same time, we must play with joy and awareness of the fact that everything we are doing we have conquered; no one is giving us anything.
“Then, everyone can read the games as they want, but we must keep our identity even in Naples. We must not think about the final target, but the path there.
“We aren’t pressured to reach the Europa League. We must enjoy our path and probably seeing ourselves so high in the standings isn’t a good thing for the first team of Sassuolo, but for all of Sassuolo’s football.
“What we have sown and grafted in recent years brings us something, even if it’s nothing today. The famous growth is having some effect.”
De Zerbi confirmed Domenico Berardi and Francesco Caputo are back in contention for Friday’s match and compared Hamed Traore to Manuel Locatelli.
“Berardi and Caputo are in the game, then let’s see how many minutes they can play,” De Zerbi said. “If they start or enter during the game.
“[Gregoire] Defrel and [Jeremie] Boga took five days more than in Naples and therefore they too can start the game.
“Traore is doing very well and in Naples he did well. I identify him as the one- or two-years younger Locatelli. He is ready to become a complete player from all aspects.
“[Jeremy] Toljan is rejoining the team, I don’t know if he’s ready. [Nicolas] Schiappacasse has started working with us and he is a quality player.
“We will see [Vlad] Chiriches tomorrow, while [Francesco] Magnanelli is still out. All the others are there,” the coach concluded.