Di Francesco: We need to impose ourselves on games

The game at the Stadio Artemio Franchi gets underway at 18:00 local time.

What do you want the team to do differently compared to the Napoli game?

“I expect us to play with a different approach – be aggressive and not sit so deep. Let's how we should be playing every game, putting into practice the things we work on in training.”

Will Javier Pastore and Justin Kluivert be in the squad?

“They've completed both training sessions with the rest of the squad. Kluivert has been out for less time than Pastore and has a better chance of being involved against Fiorentina but both will be in the squad.”

How are Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas doing?

“De Rossi definitely won't be involved tomorrow. It's highly unlikely he'll be fit in time for the CSKA game and may not make it for Sampdoria either. Manolas came through his first training session today, which was good. He's available for tomorrow's game and I have to decide whether or not to play him.”

Will you switch back to three in midfield in De Rossi's absence?

“That's a possibility although I didn't like the way we played with three in midfield against Napoli – we were too submissive. It's one of the things I have to weigh up. I haven't decided yet but I think I'll stick with the system we've been using recently. I prefer not to change the shape of the team too much at the moment.”

Could Bryan Cristante replace De Rossi?

“I read somewhere that Cristante is supposedly not on the same physical level as other players but the fitness tests we did this week showed he's actually one of the fittest. The mental side of the game is fundamental for all players. We're working with him, he's training well and is very willing to learn. I don't know if he will replace De Rossi. [Lorenzo] Pellegrini can play in that central midfield role too, as he has on other occasions.”

Why does your team tend to sit further back? Is it because of the formation?

“I'm fed up with talking about formations. How deep the team sits depends on how aggressive you are in closing the opposition down; if you're not aggressive you inevitably drop deeper. That's what happened against Napoli. With a 4-2-3-1 formation you have a player who is already pushed forward ready to harry the opposition, but one of the wide midfielders in a three-man system can do that too.

"It's about creating triangles when defending or attacking and the formation doesn't matter in that respect. It all comes down to your approach: if you close down more aggressively, you drop off less as a team. Napoli always harry the ball carrier and it's something we're not doing so well at the moment. We must get back to doing it and it's the area I've been doing the most work on.”

Is fourth place the target this season?

“I don't think it makes much sense to talk about it now. We're playing catch-up and it won't be easy. We have to improve our performances and get points on the board, starting tomorrow. If we can't do that, there's no point talking about anything else. I don't want to only think about fourth place but if that's what we have left to play for at the end of the season then we'll obviously focus on that.

“AC Milan and Inter were struggling for a while, then they won a few games in a row and it built up their confidence. We've only lost one of our last seven, which shows we've improved, but I'm not happy with that – I want more. I expect better results and better performances.”

Do you have a target in mind?

“We still have the Coppa Italia and the Champions League to play. Serie A is the competition where we're lagging behind and where we need to improve. I wake up every morning with the aim of improving myself. I give 100% for this club. Like everyone, I make mistakes but I can assure you that I do my job with a great deal of passion and love – even more so here.”

Given that you have the same number of points as Fiorentina, would a win tomorrow lay down a marker in the battle for fourth place?

“We have to lay down a marker for ourselves by trying to win this game and get the three points so that we can make up some of the ground we've lost along the way. Tomorrow is a great chance for us to do that. We'll go out there set on getting the three points. To do so, we must show the tactical and mental characteristics we mentioned earlier.”

Why do you think your team is not performing the way you'd like?

“There are lots of things, on a tactical level. We planned to play one way but we weren't able to do it well consistently so we changed. We haven't been consistent enough and we haven't been good enough to camp out in our opponents' half and look like we're bossing the game. We must improve our performances and show that we can boss games with our performances and our attitude.”

Will Juan Jesus play tomorrow?

“I'm not sure who will play in central defence. I have three players for two positions: Juan Jesus, Manolas and [Federico] Fazio. Obviously Manolas's problem is something I'll take into consideration. I'll speak to him to find out how he is and then I'll assess everything.”

Given the problems you have in midfield, might Aleksandar Kolarov be an option in there?

“I'm not going to experiment at the moment. That would be something we need to prepare for.”

Will Patrik Schick get a chance tomorrow? Or will it be Edin Dzeko again?

“Edin will play at centre-forward and we'll look at other positions where Patrik could play – like in a wider role. Each player has their own path and we've only played 13 games so far. We have the chance to involve lots of players and all the lads are involved. When they train, they're all on the same level. When I pick the team I consider how far along each player is and then I decide who to put out there. There are times when you can go with a youngster or two – like against Empoli. In other cases, you need experience. I don't just wake up in the morning and pick the team on the computer. Lots of considerations come into play.”