Massimo Oddo insists Udinese’s crisis is “purely psychological, as this team is terrified of everything” after a ninth straight loss at Cagliari.
The Friulani extended their all-time club record dismal run of nine consecutive defeats, despite taking the lead through Kevin Lasagna.
Massimo Oddo insists Udinese’s crisis is “purely psychological, as this team is terrified of everything” after a ninth straight loss at Cagliari.
The Friulani extended their all-time club record dismal run of nine consecutive defeats, despite taking the lead through Kevin Lasagna.
“I was worried before, I don’t know about anyone else. You can’t say anything after nine straight defeats, unfortunately at the moment we are struggling psychologically and show big problems,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“A Coach tries in every way to fire them up, give them confidence and support, or even some need to be told off, but I see a reaction in training and then every weekend we get terrified.
“We always take the lead, then immediately get blocked, allow two goal-scoring opportunities in three minutes and that means something is really wrong.
“This is a team that is very physical and doesn’t have much quality in its passing game, so our goals have to be counter-attacks. The real problem is in the mind, because when we get the game on track and go in front, we should make those characteristics count and start to dominate, but instead we retreat.
“I maintain it is purely a psychological issue, as this team is afraid of losing and when it goes in front gets afraid of an equaliser. It’s afraid of everything.
“I realised this was a problem five or six weeks ago. I’m trying everything, the carrot and the stick, support and criticism. It’s the toughest part of being a Coach and the only medicine is a positive result.
“The more negative results build up, the more chaos erupts in the minds of the players. We started well today, but on the equaliser I said beforehand we would concede from that set play, because I saw four players were standing around totally without concentration. It was obvious.
“This is a team that in good psychological shape can beat anyone, as we showed against Inter, but like this we’ll struggle against anybody.”