Raffaele Palladino stressed the importance of Fiorentina's upcoming run of games over the next month when he sat down with the media ahead of Sunday's lunchtime kick-off against Como.

Here's a pick of what the coach had to say:

SEVEN – "The next seven matches between now and the international break in March will be crucial to defining our season. We'll also have the Conference League to deal with and we want to go as far as we can.”

TREATMENT ROOM – "[Albert] Gudmundsson had a bout of tonsillitis before we went to Milan. [Yacine] Adli is recovering from a twisted ankle. Pablo Mari has recovered and is back in the group."

FAGIOLI – "Nicolo is a versatile, compete player who will come in handy. He can play in different positions and has done well in the hole before. You can tell he likes to get on the ball, play it forward and set up team-mates.”

COMO – "[Cesc] Fabregas's teams have a very clear philosophy. We'll need to be solid defensively and even better going forward. But with all due respect to our opponents, we want to keep picking up points.”

CRITICISM – "I just try to make sure the players feel comfortable on the pitch. We've tried to make certain things automatic. We have the fourth best defence and the fourth best attack.”

VAR – "I won't criticise referees. I think if there's a tool that can help them, they must be able to use it. VAR is an ongoing process and I'm sure the protocol will be updated.

TEAM – "We have a close-knit group and we need to help the new signings adapt to our style of play. We need to give them time to settle in properly.”