Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Italiano insists Hearts will face a furious backlash from their four goal humbling at home to Lazio on Monday.
La Viola slipped down to 13th spot on the Serie A table after a run of only two league wins from their last nine games ahead of tonight's crucial Europa Conference League clash with the Jambos. A bad-tempered pre-match media conference had Italian journalists turning on the head coach with questions over a perceived lack of heart and spirit within his side after the 4-0 loss.
But Italiano refuted suggestions of disharmony in his squad and he believes Robbie Neilson 's side will face a greater test than in their 3-0 defeat of the Gorgie side last Thursday in Edinburgh. He said: “We showed we are good at reacting in Scotland last week. I heard people say it was an easy win - I can assure you there are no easy games, we were good last week and we need to be better tomorrow.
“We have played nine match days in Serie A and we are 6 points less off where we were last season, but there is a long way to go, nothing is lost. Last year we had moments like this, we lost 4-0 v Torino but then we beat Napoli. This is a team who has proved they can react very well, I expect my players will show extra motivation after what they did last match. I think this is the match where we need to react to the bad result against Lazio.
“We will go on to the pitch to confirm the good things we did against Hearts and in the first part of the game against Lazio. And then try to relaunch ourselves in Serie A where we are lagging behind a little bit, and in the Conference League, where we were lagging but we have been making up for that. So we need to confirm the good things we can do, and European games are showing you can never take a result for granted, there are no easy games. So we must play as we did last week and as we did against Lazio at the start."
Fiorentina were booed off the pitch after their Lazio debacle but defender Lorenzi Venuti made a plea for the fans to get behind his side against Hearts and insists the criticism is a measure of the bar being raised by a seventh place Serie A finish last season.
He said: “If people are booing us it is because the expectations are very high. We raised the bar last season and this is the consequence, If they are booing it is because we are not meeting those expectations right now. This might sound trivial but I want to say to the fans, please keep supporting us because we need them. They need to leave this destructive criticism aside. We know what we need to do and we are working every day to solve our problems. Everyone is 100-per-cent committed to getting out of this situation."
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