Udinese manager Francesco Guidolin deserves every accolade that is coming his way at the moment.
He is on the verge of guiding the club into the Champions League for the third time in the club’s history and current holder of the Panchina d’Oro for being coach of the season, an honour which he could well receive again this year.
For much of the season Udinese have been in the mix for the all-important third place but since January many d0ubted they would be able to cope with the complications that were starting to come the squad’s way.
Things were destined to go against Guidolin and his side since before the season began having lost star youngster Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona.
The Chilean was always going to be a big miss for the Friuliani having hit 12 goals the season before and he added another dimension to the Udinese attack thanks to his intense speed and dazzling feet.
He wasn’t the only player that they had to deal with losing as along with Giampiero Pinzi, Gokhan Inler was part of one of the most underrated central midfield partnerships in world football.
He had an outstanding season in the middle of the park in Udine and was one of the players of the season and he has only continued this fine form into this campaign with Napoli where he impressed on the biggest stage of all in Europe too.
Losing two star performers would have been bad enough for Guidolin but the club also had European football to contend with for much of the season when they dropped into the Europa League after being extremely unlucky to go out of the Champions League at the hands of Arsenal in the final qualifying round.
They even made it into the round of 16 in the Europa League which meant that they have played a total of 12 continental games which was a huge amount for one of the thinnest squads in Serie A.
A thin squad that was tested to even higher limits and possibly breaking point when this year’s African Cup of Nations rolled around which in turn took away three of their most important players as Kwadwo Asamoah, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Mehdi Benatia all left for the competition.
When you consider that Badu and the magnificent Mauricio Isla have both suffered long-term injuries which have ruled them out for many months, this is an unheard amount of adversity for one squad to deal with.
Guidolin has not complained once about any of this and has instead focused on facing and overcoming these challenges with dignity and it looks as though, against all the odds, he is about to be repaid with the ultimate reward.
With his side set out in a 3-5-2 formation that allows them to be both fluid and flowing in attack yet solid when required to defend in numbers but had a regular starting XI that is undoubtedly the strongest of the Champions League chasers.
Lazio do not have enough creativity in attack and have struggled at full-back this season after losing Stephan Lichtsteiner in the summer and Napoli are fantastic in all areas of the field aside from their defence which has been exposed as extremely slow and unable to defend an aerial ball this season.
Udinese however have been set up in Guidolin’s trusty three man backline in which a defence consisting of stalwarts like Morgan De Sanctis in goal and in front of him Benatia, Danilo, Dusan Basta and Maurizio Domizzi.
They have both skill and pace on the wings with Pablo Armero and Isla and with Pinzi, Badu, Asamoah and Michele Pazienza they have a very impressive midfield while the goals of Antonio Di Natale in attack have been relied on once more this season to fire the Zebrette into third place.
He has been helped out somewhat though by Paolo Barreto, Antonio Floro Flores and even bright talent Gabriel Torje but their usually rigid starting side has them in a wonderful position and if they do manage to clinch third spot, then Guidolin is an outstanding candidate for retaining his manager of the year award when you consider everything that Udinese have overcome this campaign.
At all times under the four-time Palermo manager, two of their central midfielders will remain at the back as the other three in midfield get forward to help out ‘Toto’ Di Natale and his attacking partner in the final third and this has been a massive reason for the club having conceded so few goals this campaign (the third fewest after Juventus and Milan).
The ability of this midfield to also quickly win the ball back when it is lost due to the tenacity and pressure their midfield places upon the opposition is also crucial to Guidolin’s style as is the willingness of the wingers to drop all the way back when the team are defending.
This ensures that they are more than capable of defending well and attacking equally efficiently and you have to credit much of this down to the tactics of Guidolin.
Thankfully for the club and unfortunately for any others in the peninsula, he has this week admitted that he will not manage another club in Italy again in his career.
His current deal with Udinese runs until 2015 and if he can continue the excellent work he has done so far at the club (albeit without Di Natale in future) he will be remembered as one of the club’s greats.
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This article was originally posted on the FFC News Desk
