Andrea Stramaccioni said Cesena is “a different game” to any others so far for Udinese” data-scaytid=”3″>Udinese, who welcome back Antonio Di Natale.
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
Andrea Stramaccioni said Cesena is “a different game” to any others so far for Udinese, who welcome back Antonio Di Natale.
It kicks off on Sunday at 14.00 UK time (13.00 GMT), click here for a match preview.
“It will be a different game to the ones we’ve faced so far, because Cesena’s main characteristics are being aggressive, gritty and determined. Their bite could be worse than ours,” said Coach Stramaccioni in a Press conference.
“So far we’ve taken on very technically-gifted sides, so Cesena represent a different test for Udinese. I am curious to see what the response is. This week we trained a lot on set plays too, as this game could be decided by an incident.”
There is also renewed pressure on the Friulani, who are currently third in the Serie A table behind joint leaders Juventus” data-scaytid=”14″>Juventus and Roma.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground, as we know full well that we cannot win every game. We are growing, so I don’t want any over the top celebrations, because when the negative moment arrives we need balance.
“We do have 12 points in the bag already and that is a valuable cushion to have for our situation. We’ve only played five rounds, so there’s no point looking at the table now.
“Am I annoyed by Udinese being labelled defensive? There’s no such thing as a team that doesn’t defend now, the difference is how you defend and how you attack.”
Captain Di Natale is in the squad and available for selection after compassionate leave following the death of his father this week.
“We all embraced our captain,” said Stramaccioni. “It was a horrible moment for him, but our captain has such great strength. He trained well and I think he’ll pour everything he’s feeling into the performance tomorrow.”
Udinese squad for Cesena: Brkic, Karnezis; Belmonte, Bubnjic, Coda, Domizzi, Heurtaux, Danilo, Pasquale, Piris, Widmer; Badu, Fernandes, Guilherme, Hallberg, Kone, Allan, Pinzi; Evangelista, Di Natale, Geijo, Muriel, Thereau