Genoa vs Udinese preview - Udinese Guidolin: Udinese not yet safe

Posted Sunday, February 16, 2014 by PA

Francesco Guidolin has reminded his Udinese players just how much work they have to do before the club can consider themselves safe from the threat of relegation.

The Bianconeri, who visit Genoa on Sunday afternoon, arrested a dire run of four straight defeats - and 10 in 14 games - to reach 14th place in the Serie A table by beating both Bologna and Chievo in back-to-back outings.

Guidolin's men are now nine points clear of the bottom three but remain 14 short of the 40-point minimum total their veteran coach set them in August.

He told a press conference: "We are not out of danger yet and everyone has to make their contribution to the cause. All the boys have to do their best."

This week saw Udinese eliminated from the Coppa Italia semi-finals as Fiorentina overturned a first-leg deficit to book their place in the May final.

And Guidolin hopes his players can convert any disappointment into positive energy over the season run-in.

"We need to immerse ourselves fully in the reality of the league," he added.

"We are proud that we were protagonists in the cup and maybe we deserved better luck in the decisive match.

"We committed ourselves to the maximum, squeezing out every drop of our energy, but unfortunately we did not have enough to reach the final.

"We know that Genoa are dangerous and so I hope to see my team play like they have in the last few days. "

Gabriel Silva and Andrea Lazzari remain on the treatment table back in Friuli while Genoa are without Alessandro Gamberini, Antonio Donnarumma, Juraj Kucka and Luca Antonini.

The Rossoblu also started the season poorly, but they are now just one win away from breaching the top half of the table following last weekend's 1-0 victory at struggling Livorno.

But coach Gian Piero Gasperini understands that Udinese present a much greater threat than the luckless Tuscans.

He told genoacfc.it: "To beat Udinese we will need to be strong, confident and enthusiastic.

"The Udinese game will be different to the one against Livorno.

"We hold these opponents in higher esteem as they have demonstrated they have a great squad by going far in the cup while competing well in the league.

"My team deserve to be rewarded because they are giving everything they have. I'm satisfied with the answers I've been getting from the group."