The Serie A outfit is two goals down coming into the return leg of UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie, and the Alkmaar outfit boss expects a tough test in the opening half.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Udinese-Calcio-c40789 in the first-leg of UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie on March 8.
The AZ head coach, Gertjan Verbeek, has admitted that the Serie A outfit will push his side to the limits to overturn the deficit and progress through to the next phase of the competition. However, the Dutch mentor has asserted that his side has what it
takes to seal a quarter-final berth.
“I expect Udinese to set things straight in the opening half. They have achieved that against PAOK. Trailing 2-0 is not an easy task and they cannot wait too long to overturn the deficit”, Verbeek was quoted as saying to Voetbal International.
The Dutch trainer then went on to insist that his side would be going into the match with aggressive intent and will look to score goals rather than sitting in their own-half to defend the lead.
“The football philosophy in Alkmaar, and largely in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Netherlands-c753, is aggressive rather than playing defensively. We are threatening while moving forward and the Italian sides are better in defending. We want to get a good result and progress to the next round”,
Verbeek added.
The 49-year-old tactician, who started his managerial career at SC http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Heracles-Almelo-c39520 in the 2001/02 season, took over the managerial position at AFAS Stadion in the summer of 2010.
Although the Dutch mentor is experienced in Europe, he has never made it past the last-16 round.
"I have had more than 50 European matches to my name. However, I have never made it farther than the round of 16”, Verbeek concluded.
The AZ head coach, who has been leading his side impressively in the Dutch top tier, sitting at the summit of the league table, would be keen to lead his troops to the next phase of the Europe’s second tier competition.
AZ will lock horns against Udinese in the return leg at Stadio Friuli on March 15.
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