Palermo coach Bortolo Mutti insists he's still counting on midfielder Josip Ilicic.

The Slovenia international has struggled for form this season.

Mutti said: "The criticism does not make sense, players have positive and negative moments during a season, the latter when you are not the player that everyone wants, but if you are properly focused then you can overcome it.

"It is clear that one cannot always be on top form and it sometimes means that you do not manage to do things even when you have great skill.

"It is not something determined or fixed by clear parameters."