Head coach Paolo Vanoli was in buoyant mood after an important win over Cremonese by the odd goal in spite of a bout of flu that affected the squad in the build-up.

“This win is for the players. Sometimes it’s hard to justify bad results when the performances are good, but I’ve told the lads to persevere and keep going. Since I arrived, our possession figures have been good, but we’ve needed to be better in the final third, which is why we needed a player like Manor [Solomon]. We need to be patient with him because when you sign players in January, it may be because they haven’t played that much elsewhere. With his technique, experience and quality, he can certainly help us, as he showed this evening.

“I wanted to strengthen the defence by playing an extra defender, Luca [Ranieri], which was important for our structure. Robin [Gosens] came back two days ago after three days off with a 40-degree temperature, so I got him back at the last minute. We need to be careful with the balance. We’re doing well but if we have a good transfer window, we might be able to employ a 4-2-3-1. It takes hard work and we need consistency.”