Thiago Motta says his team has to continue their good run of form when they travel to the Stadio Friuli to face Udinese. The Rossoblu have climbed to 4th place in the table, having gone on a three match unbeaten run, winning against the likes of Atalanta, Roma and Salernitana. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Motta pointed to the collective spirit of his team as part of the reason for their recent run of success:
“It is always more pleasant to work with this positive atmosphere, the awareness of our strength of why we are here at this moment. Every point is won on the pitch in training and now only the next one against Udinese counts.”
“I am part of a group that is doing things well so far, we have to continue like this, with this spirit, with this team solidarity that is the most important thing right now: concentrate on the next one with Udinese.”
“I don’t have a method, the positive period allows us to take the right steps as we have been doing since day one, the positive climate helps. I am not hypocritical, but I am aware that we are in this moment, I understand why we are here but anyway I try to improve going forward, we cannot stop, we cannot fall asleep. Maximum commitment, for the jersey, for our fans’.
“Set-pieces? It’s a situation where we can change the game for sure. With Atalanta the set-piece changed but it could have changed even before. Compliments to Atalanta for the way they carried us in their game, they frustrated us by letting us keep the ball but without concretising it like in the first half. On the counter-attacks then they hurt us. We have to improve on that for sure, we have to take the game where we want it”.
“Udinese? They are a very solid team, last year in Udine in the first 15 minutes we struggled a lot and could have gone down by two goals. They are a very physical team with great players, like Samardzic for example. We are ready to play our game and try to take it to our side”.
“My contract renewal? If there is news, you will know it. Vélez’s Santiago Castro arriving in January? I don’t know him honestly, I can’t say if I like him or not.”
