And with a Heineken Cup quarter-final and a league title to play for Marshall insists he and his teammates will not be taking their opponents this weekend, Zebre, lightly - especially after they ran them so close in the reverse fixture back in November.
That day Ulster were more than fortunate to escape from Parma with a 27-25 win and Marshall wants no more repeats of those sorts of close calls as the season reaches the business end.
"In years gone by, maybe we were the underdogs. We have aspirations to be one of the top teams in European rugby so there can be no off weeks," Marshall, who made his first start since breaking his finger against Ospreys last time out, told thescore.ie.
"The Ospreys was a tough came to come back into. In the first half, we didn't secure enough ball. It was a disappointing result and performance.
"Perhaps we got a bit ahead of ourselves and Ospreys caught us cold.
"Mark [Anscombe] was saying that, as we are setting the pace this year, teams will be coming for us."
The Ulstermen's only previous defeat to an Italian opponent in a competitive match was 12-23 at home to Treviso in October 2011.
And Mark Anscombe's troops, who sit seven points clear despite the Ospreys defeat, have been boosted by the return of a number of key players ahead of this weekend.
Ireland forwards Declan Fitzpatrick, Iain Henderson and Chris Henry all return while backs Paddy Jackson, Darren Cave and Chris Cochrane are also back in action.
63x46.png){kind=logo}