Read Stefano Pioli’s words after Fiorentina’s 0-0 away draw against Pisa.

You said you’d almost found your Fiorentina. Do you have any doubts about these words you said after today’s match against Pisa?

“No, but there is still a little bit missing. We have to concede less. While I think today was our most attacking performance, we're still not scoring enough goals. We don't try to take players on enough, we’re not taking enough shots, we’re not as aggressive against our opponents as we should be.”

“We feel the burden of this tough start. The players feel it. They feel that it’s hard to get that first win. They feel the general disappointment. Unfortunately it’s part of the job: the results you get sometimes do not reflect the good work you do during the week. We could’ve played differently on many occasions, and we needed to be better. We could’ve performed better in the final third. There’s still room for improvement for the team.”

Do you expect something more from some players? Players who could maybe play better and help the team more? For example Albert Gudmundsson.

“I think all of us, me included, need to do more. Not just the forwards, the defenders or the midfielders. All of us must do more. The entire team want to get over this tough period. They want to work together and improve. But it’s not about single individuals. Everyone at Fiorentina are working hard. We can do better and that’s what we’re focused on doing.”

The team looked disheartened as they have yet to win a match.

“We’re not happy about the way things are going. So what you’re describing is normal. But we need to find a way to bounce back. Today we stayed focused throughout the match, despite making some mistakes. We need to win and gain confidence and believe in what we are doing.”

When the team went to the Visitors’ Section, they weren’t greeted very warmly.

“I don’t know anything about that.”

You have two home matches coming up, a Conference League match and one against Roma: what can you get from those matches and how important is the support of Fiorentina fans?

“We have to gain something from all our training sessions and matches. The fans aren’t happy and that’s fair. We’re not happy either. But we’re the ones who need to change things. The fans can’t wait for us to win matches and root for us. And if we don’t win, we accept their criticism. We need to be strong and believe in what we do and show that we’re not as far off as the results may suggest.”

The team seem inconsistent. They sometimes do well, but other times they concede chances they shouldn’t concede. There are problems in defense, midfield and attack. Is it a mindset problem or is there something else to it?

“There’s something else to it as well. The problems you’ve mentioned are there. But today we were a team. We stayed in the game. Our opponents were very physical, they were very competitive and there were many duels. The two teams had different attributes and we had to rely more on quality and ball circulation. When we did, we put them in difficult situations, but we weren’t effective in one-on-one situations and in the box. We had some chances, but we didn’t manage to score. In many situations we need to be more united from the very beginning of the match.”

What can you say about Pisa? What kind of team are they and did you expect the team you found today?

“They always play as they did today, so I expected that type of match. The reason why we’re not playing well is not that our opponents are catching us by surprise. In fact, Pisa waited a bit longer than usual, they’re usually more aggressive. They’re physical and well and organized. It was the match we expected. We won some duels and lost others. It was a very physical match with many fouls. It was a tough game. This stadium is called Arena because gladiators come in here. And I think we gave it our all.”

You always came up with good plays for Moise Kean. He made some progress today. What are the obstacles entailed in dealing with the pressure of the other team when building from the back?

“The difficulties are linked to how aggressive the other team are and by some wrong choices we’ve made. We should’ve been more patient as we moved the ball on the pitch. We did find a few good solutions throughout the match. Sometimes you need to play some through balls when your opponents are aggressive. In some cases we read the game well, in others we didn’t. Today’s game management was much better than our game management in the second half of last week’s match.”

Are you worried about the fact that the forwards have once again failed to score and have yet to score this season?

“I’m worried about the fact that we’re not winning. I don’t care whether a forward, a midfielder or a defender scores. I know it’s important for a forward to score, so I hope I’ll win with a goal by a forward. But if we win with a goal by a defender, that’s fine too. What really matters is that we start winning some matches. That’s because based on the work we’ve been doing, we should be getting different results. But it’s up to us. You get good results if you believe in what you do and if you work hard. And that’s what we need to do.”