Napoli slumped to their second consecutive defeat as Udinese defeated Napoli 1-0 at the Stadio Friuli on Sunday evening.
Danilo poked home the winner after a poor clearance from Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly. Despite Udinese’s win, the match looked destine for a scoreless draw as neither team could take control of the match.
The pressure will only increase on Napoli coach Rafael Benitez as Napoli continue to struggle in Serie A.
Agree with out ratings? Have your say in the comments below.
Udinese
Orestis Karnezis – 6.5 – Shotstopper
Had little to do until second half. Made an excellent save from Higuain followed by a second save from Callejon immediately after.
Ivan Piris – 5.5 – Shutdown
Piris shutdown the right side of Napoli’s attack, but showed he could be vulnerable if Napoli had attacked him more often and earlier.
Danilo – 6 – Solid
Got free at the far post and poked in a misdirected header. Solid in defence, kept the pressure off Karnezis.
Thomas Heurtaux – 6 – Repeller
Played well next to Danilo. Repelled everything from Napoli’s attack.
Silvan Widmer – 6 – Enough
Rarely under pressure and looked mistake prone if he would have been pressurized by Insigne. Did enough on the right side, however.
Bruno Fernandes – 5 – Giver
Gave the ball away easily in the midfield. Had one good shot blocked in the first half by Albiol.
Guilherme Andrade – 5 – Quiet
He didn’t show up often and remained quiet much of the night though he played all 90 minutes.
Allan – Drifter – 5.5
Looked good in the midfield. Won the ball, got forward and tried to open up the Napoli defence. He drifted in and out of the game in the second half, however.
Panagiotis Kone – 5.5 – Opportunistic
Kone was anonymous for large portions of the game. He was never able to make the defence cutting passes that were expected of him; but he did pop up at the end and helped to frustrate Napoli’s defence.
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu – 6 – Energy
Combined well with teammates and got into good attacking positions. He was tireless with his running.
Antonio Di Natale – 6 – Leader
Couldn’t get on the end of passes despite his hard work up top. Took the free-kick that led to the Udinese goal.
Substitutes –
Cyril Thereau – 5 – 70th minute
Luis Muriel – No Rating – 82nd minute
Napoli
Rafael Cabral – 5.5 – Bored
Had very little to do in the way of saves, except for a couple of long distant shots from Udinese midfielders. Probably should have taken charge of the ball that led to Udinese’s goal.
Miguel Britos – 5.5 – Capable
Helped to limit Udinese’s forward line as he shutdown Udinese’s right side for most of the night.
Raul Albiol – 5.5 – Solid
Did very little wrong on the night. Defended well and limited Udinese’s attackers.
Kalidou Koulibaly – 5 – Unfortunate
He had played well and corralled Udinese’s attack until his misdirected header fell to Danilo to fire home.
Christian Maggio – 5 – Tired
He was able to get forward often, but couldn’t make the most of his advanced positions. Despite getting forward, he looked laboured in the second half getting on the end of passes.
Walter Gargano – 5 – MIA
Hit the post in the first half. Went missing in the second half unless he was committing a foul.
David Lopez – 5 – Lucky
He was lucky to have been on the pitch until the end. A reckless challenge early in second half followed by another cynical challenge minutes later. Tried to spray the ball around from midfield, but defenders cut them out too easily, too often.
Juan Zuniga – 5 – Passenger
Lifted after the hour mark. Never made an impact on the game, but far from the worst on the pitch.
Lorenzo Insigne – 4.5 – Wasteful
Good pace up the left and capable of avoiding defenders, but failed to pick out a teammate in the final third. Went down far too easily when under challenge. Substituted in the 75th minute.
Michu – 5 – Energy-less
Decent chance in 31st minute and combined well with teammates to lay-off the ball in the first half. Looked off the pace as the game went on before being replaced in 72nd minute.
Gonzalo Higuain – 6 – Frustrated
Didn’t do much over the course of the match due to receiving little to no service from teammates. When he had an opportunity, he looked the most impressive of Napoli’s starting XI.
Substitutes
Jose Callejon – 6 – 64th minute
Dries Mertens – 6 – 72nd minute
Jonathan de Guzman – No rating – 75th minute
