Hellas Verona coach Ivan Juric encouraged Mattia Zaccagni to ‘continue like this’ and said he’s not worried by the lack of goals in recent games.
Zaccagni has been voted the best player of November and ahead of Saturday's match against Lazio, Juric said the 25-year-old must focus on 'reconfirming' his level.
“I’m overjoyed for Zaccagni, the President’s words are right; with sacrifice you can reach your targets,” Juric said at a press conference.
Hellas Verona coach Ivan Juric encouraged Mattia Zaccagni to ‘continue like this’ and said he’s not worried by the lack of goals in recent games.
Zaccagni has been voted the best player of November and ahead of Saturday's match against Lazio, Juric said the 25-year-old must focus on 'reconfirming' his level.
“I’m overjoyed for Zaccagni, the President’s words are right; with sacrifice you can reach your targets,” Juric said at a press conference.
“He must continue like this, otherwise he loses everything. He has reached a good level and must reconfirm himself.
“As a coach, you are sometimes criticised a little too much, now, there might be too much praise.”
Juric said he has been ‘satisfied’ with 32-year-old centre-forward Samuel Di Carmine but feels the former Perugia man should have scored more goals.
“I’m still getting to know the new players, and with injuries it’s not easy,” he added. “We did a lot of good things in attack, but missed a lot of goals.
“From game to game, depending on the opponents, we try to find a way to hit them harder. I’m satisfied with Samuel.
“He lives for goals and lately it has gone really bad. He could have scored six or seven goals. Let’s see if he will start, we have many games.”
Juric said Giangiacomo Magnani, Matteo Lovato and Pawel Davidowicz should be ready to play but claimed his ‘best player last season’, Darko Lazovic, needs time to get back in shape after injury and COVID.
“Magnani has recovered and Lovato too. They have had a normal week at last,” he said. “Dawidowicz is fine and is finding continuity, and there’s the Dimarco as an option.
“I can choose two plus him, or all three with Dimarco.
“Lazovic was our best player last year, he was brilliant. At this moment, after the injury and COVID, he is still not at that level.
“In my opinion, he needs training and serenity, let’s see if he plays tomorrow. He needs to get in the right condition.”
Verona have scored three goals in their last four games but Juric is not worried.
“In the last match, we created a lot, a lot of right moves,” he said. “I’m not that worried. I’m sorry for [Nikola] Kalinic, who knows how to score and isn’t there now.
“But I’m not complaining about the attackers.”
He revealed Nikola Kalinic might not be back before the last match before Christmas.
“I don’t think he will be there even for next Saturday, maybe the last one if all goes well.
“Today, [Koray] Günter trained and is available again. [Ronaldo] Vieira has to be patient for a while, I hope to have him back after the break.”