Udinese were beaten 5-2 at home by Roma on Saturday evening after trailing 4-0 at half-time. The result left Udinese in 19th place on five points after 10 matches, with seven defeats in eight league games.
Roma lead by four before the break
Bryan Cristante, Rodrigo Mora, Donyell Maen and Evan Ndicka scored as Roma went 4-0 up before half-time. Nicolo Zaniolo and Matteo Palma reduced the deficit in the second half, before Daniele Ghilardi scored in injury time.
Runjaic on the goals conceded
Assessing Udinese's performance during his post-match press conference on Saturday evening, Kosta Runjaic said: "I agree, we should have defended much better for the goals we conceded, it was too easy for the opponents."
Runjaic also said: "It was difficult to assess the second half, we could have opened it up a bit more but we didn’t do it. A dark evening for us, we have to react."
Why there were no half-time changes
Asked why he decided against making any substitutions when his side were 4-0 down at the break, Runjaic said: "We had already conceded four goals and we decided to stay as we were. Do you think that we could have made any changes that would have really changed the game? You don’t get anywhere with ifs and buts."
He added: "I know it isn’t a good situation and there are lots of other things I could say. Palma is our youngest guy and he gave everything. Playing against quality players like Roma’s, you can suffer. They exploited our mistakes well. It’s a difficult schedule, now we have to go to Venezia and consider our energy levels."
League position and next trip
Runjaic said: "We can’t bury our heads in the sand and it’s also useless to just keep talking about it. We played better against Parma and Torino, but we couldn’t find the win today. Today we lost the duels and this is where we conceded the goals. That can happen against a team like Roma."
He also said: "I’m still calm, we’re working together. I know that we can change the situation, but it’s not up to me to decide whether I’m the person to do that."
