An entertaining game was played out at the Stadio Friuli between Udinese and AS Roma. Alexis Sanchez, who was supposed to be watched by scouts from English giants Manchester United pulled out of the starting eleven late and was replaced by Germán Denis in the starting line-up. Di Natale played the role of second striker (Alexis Sanchez’s replacement tactically). Gökhan Inler sat out a ban and Giampiero Pinzi came in as his replacement at the base of midfield. Matteo Brighi replaced Simone Perrotta behind Totti while Aleandro Rosi came in for the injured Jérémy Ménez on the right for Roma.
Udinese quiet
Based on “formations”, Udinese were playing a 3 man defence against a 1 man attack. Vucinic’s interpretation of the role and Benatia marking helped solve this little problem. Vucinic, a forward by nature rarely tracked back. This allowed Benatia to permanently man-mark Vucinic (no problem of passing marking Vucinic between Isla and Benatia). On the other flank, Rosi played a reserved role and describing him as a forward would have been wrong. He tracked Armero all the pitch and it was a direct match-up. This meant that when Udinese defended, apart from the spare man in the centre, Isla also was not responsible for marking anyone. Also in attack, Isla roamed free and was usually free as Vucinic rarely tracked him and Riise stayed in line with the Roma defence.
The absence of Sanchez led to the presence of Denis which was not necessarily a bad idea. AS Roma forwards pressed Udinese at goal-kicks and high up the pitch. Udinese tried the long-ball option and Denis was decent providing a few knock-downs for the roaming Di Natale or midfield runners such as Abdi and Asamoah. This option though usually failed to yield result as it represented a shift from the usual system and the players were slow to adapt.
Lack of a director for Udinese
Udinese also lacked a director in midfield. Pinzi at the base of the midfield lacked the technical abilities of Inler who plays as a deep director (regista) for Udinese. Inler’s two-footedness and composure in tight situations help Udinese retain possession and transmit the ball from one end of the pitch to another (flank switching). This was missing today and Udinese failed to take maximum advantage of the usually free Isla on their right channel.
Perfectly-matched sides
In midfield, each player had a direct marker. Isla was also able to keep watch on Riise who got forward as Benatia covered Vucinic. This produced a first half lacking in goals. Both sides were matched and Udinese could not utilize the advantages they had; the space Isla had to operate and knock-downs from Denis’ aerial tussles. AS Roma tended to boss the game as Udinese could rarely put attacks together. Di Natale who has operated off the last defender this campaign took some time adapting to the link-up role Alexis Sanchez plays.
Totti penalty changes game
The second half began in similar fashion to the first with Roma increasingly becoming more dominant taking the game to Udinese. Continuous pressing and attacking of Roma was rewarded when David Pizarro was fouled in the box by Pinzi. Totti converted the resulting penalty. Udinese responded by attacking more. The Udinese team now permanently seemed to play with a 4-man defence as Benatia’s marking of Vucinic out-wide effectively made him right-back. Isla played a role ahead in midfield and the constant attacks of Udinese utilizing the wide men, Isla and Armero allowed Udinese grow into the game.
Series of changes and a change of system for Udinese
Closing Systems
Over a period of 20 minutes beginning 19 minutes into the second half, Montella took off Rosi, Brighi and Vucinic for Taddei, Perrotta and Borriello while Guidolin took off Abdi, Denis and Domizzi for Cuadrado, Corradi and Vydra.
Montella’s interesting changes included bringing on Perrotta and moving him to the left side of Roma’s midfield. He helped reduce Isla’s influence on the game and provided a platform for Riise to overlap as Perrotta is a hardworking midfielder willing to cover for his teammates. With Boriello coming on and playing centrally, Totti continued to play as trequartista for the side but now had a central striker to bother the centre-back pairing of Zapata and Domizzi.
Corradi came on for Denis in a like-for-like swap though Corradi is much a bigger target man than Denis. Vydra coming on for Domizzi meant the team switched to a 4-4-2 with two wing-backs on the right in Isla and Cuadrado.
Corradi was more impressive than Denis proving more difficult for the Roma centre-backs to deal with. With Udinese in search of the equalizer, in the 87th minute, Corradi, 15 minutes after coming on, provided a knock down from a Pinzi punt into the box for Di Natale to smash the ball into the net.
7 minutes of madness
After Corradi’s goal, Udinese feeling the momentum felt the urge to press on for the win, while AS Roma were equally steadfast in a bid to regain their lead. This produced end to end action involving swift counter-attacks, and a Udinese goal was disallowed as Asamoah had used his hand to guide the ball over the line. At the other end, Riise charging forward into advanced positions behind the defence aided by the protection of Perrotta and the poor defending of Isla and Cuadrado was able to provide a cut-back cross for the onrushing Totti to score in the 94th minute as Benatia attempted to close down Riise while Borriello occupied Zapata. The game ended with this goal.
OVERVIEW
– This now makes it 2 losses for Guidolin’s men in a row. The next game is against Napoli at the San Paolo and Napoli have a very impressive record at home (11 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses). With Lazio boasting the same home record as Napoli, it is likely Udinese will find itself outside the Champions League spots by the end of this matchday as Lazio host Parma at the Olimpico.
– Francesco Totti. Coach Vincenzo Montella’s reversion to Spalletti-tactics has seen a revitalization in Totti’s fortunes. The late system (2nd diagram) employed this evening can also be worth considering as it finds a place for Borriello, Totti and one wide skill-based player.
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