Udinese boss Pasquale Marino is in urgent need of a win on Wednesday night as his side host Roma.

Last weekend's 1-0 loss to Palermo extended the Bianconeri's run to three straight league defeats and the pressure is mounting on Marino.

With only three wins from their opening nine games, Udinese are down in 13th place in Serie A, but Marino is trying to stay positive and picking out the positives from last week's display.

"There is time to make up ground," he told the club's website udinese.it. "In the beginning of this championship race not everything has gone right for us, but the performance last week was very comforting.

"We can still fight to be in this at the end of the season."

Marino knows he is in a fight for his job, and that results are not on his side.

He must hope instead that club president Giampaolo Pozzo is willing to look at the performances.

"We could easily have had three or four more points from the last three games," Marino added. "Obviously there were some things wrong, but not everything has been bad.

"We always created chances, not only for the strikers but also in midfield. We just need to find the gaps."

With Christian Obodo, Damiano Ferronetti, Mauricio Isla and Maurizio Domizzi still sidelined by injury, Marino is unlikely to make any changes from last weekend.

That will see Simone Pepe and Alexis Sanchez starting alongside captain Antonio Di Natale up front.

Roma arrive in Udine with plenty of problems of their own.

Following last weekend's home reverse against Livorno, Roma are only one place better off than Udinese in 12th.

If the shock of that defeat was not enough, the club has been rocked by the loss of captain Francesco Totti for around a month with a knee injury.

He joins a lengthy injury list which already included David Pizarro, John Arne Riise and Jeremy Menez before coach Claudio Ranieri suffered a further blow with the loss of Nicolas Burdisso today.

However, the affable coach is trying to keep his spirits up.

"Winning and losing is part of the game," he said. "I know there will be problems this season but we are confident. There will be ups and downs and we always suffer a lot of injuries which certainly do not help."

Indeed, Ranieri warned the club's fans not to expect a rapid improvement any time soon.

"It is hard to mould something that is not yours," he said. "This will be a season of adjustment, of suffering and sacrifice. There will be difficulties even when the team is fully complete."

In addition to the key players missing, Max Tonetto remains injured, but Marco Motta might be rushed straight back into the team to cover for absentees elsewhere.