Paolo Vanoli offered the following assessment of his team's performance after Fiorentina earned a 1-1 draw at Lecce on Monday evening:

Are you happy with the result considering you've had to play five games back-to-back with a stretched squad?

“It was difficult and I was very worried about this game after the recent run we've had and especially given all the missing players. We've been short on options in attack for a while now and that's penalized us. We could see the energy was lacking in the second half today as a result of all these matches.

“I think we played quite well. We managed to pick out [Albert] Gud[mundsson] between the lines on several occasions but then we weren't able to follow it up and hurt them. In games like this when you get a chance like [Roberto] Piccoli's, if you go 2-0 up, the whole game changes, but I think Lecce were excellent in the second half.”

How is Robin Gosens? And is an eight-point gap enough to say you're safe now?

“Gosens had a problem with his hamstring. We'll assess him in the coming days but hopefully it's nothing serious. [Luis] Balbo came on and did well despite the difficulties of the game. Lecce were attacking a lot down that side and he played well.

“I've said before that the three points we got against Lazio were very important ahead of this tricky match we had to play today. I've told the players that the last little bit is always the hardest but now we'll have a full week to prepare for our matches and hopefully we'll be able to get players fit again.”

You've had a long run of positive results – Udine aside – and you've often achieved them by scrapping and winning ugly. Before then you sometimes played better football without getting the results. Will the team be able to express their technical ability more in these remaining games?

“You try to play good football all the time, not only once you've secured your top-flight status. We made lots of technical mistakes tonight and that's something we must improve going forward, otherwise you squander the other things you do well. Being fresh helps of course, but even when you're tired you need to keep your composure. In the second half today Roberto [Piccoli] wasn't able to hold the ball up as it was tough between the two defenders.”