Ranieri: “We must show who we really are”

Claudio Ranieri offered a frank of assessment of his side’s performance against Spezia and set out clearly what he expects to see against Udinese on Saturday as he spoke to the media ahead of the game.

“After the Spezia defeat we all want to produce a positive reaction – for our fans, for our president and for all of us,” the boss began. “We need to find the answers within ourselves because Spezia showed more desire and determination than us. We lost too many second balls and weren’t focused enough.

“When we play the top teams, the players feel that desire to do well and help each other, but this is a very strange season.

“Udinese are a very compact side. They know what they want to do and they don’t deserve to be where they are in the table. It’ll be a tough game. We need to show who we really are.

“Torregrossa is not at the same fitness level as the others yet but he’ll be on the bench. He’s a very intelligent, determined, technical player who holds the ball up well. I think he’ll complement our other forwards well.

“We’re covered in attack but we have to make do with what we’ve got at the back at the moment.”