Perhaps this really is the end of the road for the Bianconeri fans hopes and aspirations in becoming one of the elite clubs in Europe.
Udinese fell for the seventh time away from the Studio Friuli, an eighth loss overall, and the likelihood of playing in Europe’s premier cup competition looks like nothing more than football fantasy. The loss against the Tuscans of Siena was again merited and Francesco Guidolin must now be wondering what he can do to breathe life back into his withering team.
Mattia Destro struck the only goal, part way through the second half, by which time the Friulani had little hope of salvaging the game. Last week’s Club Focus spoke of bravery and desire as the medicine for healing this stricken team, but there was little evidence of that. The one positive, and the only positive, from the last round of matches is that both Lazio and Napoli also failed to pick up any points. Udinese are still in the race, but the mechanics of the team are failing very badly.
Tactically they look out of sorts, and the huge absences in the team are weighing heavy. The injured Mauricio Isla has been irreplaceable, his driving runs from midfield which are no longer part of the Udinee gameplan have made scoring opportunities even harder to come by and there is still with ‘that’ issue which has been hampering the club all season – if Di Natale doesn’t score then nobody scores.
The club failed to address this problem during the January transfer window, when quite clearly Gabriel Torje was unable to replicate the goals offered by the recently departed Alexis Sanchez and Antonio Floro Flores was no more than an emergency backup. Also, the failure of the midfield players to find the back of the net in any helpful quantity has exacerbated this problem, leaving Udinese entirely reliant on Super Toto. In all fairness to the club captain, he has more than delivered but it is impossible for a club to harbour desires of European football and not have a strike force to back those desires. Look at Napoli with Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, Juventus with Alessandro Matri, Alessandro Del Piero, Mirko Vucinic and Marco Borriello and current league leaders AC Milan who boast attacking options with the likes of Robinho, Alexandre Pato, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Stephan El Shaarawy and Antonio Cassano.
And herein lies the inherent problem at Udinese which the coach has gone some way to admitting. Guidolin, after the Siena defeat, told journalists that achieving any kind of European football for next season would be reason enough to pop the champagne corks for a club like Udinese. The lack of ambition in those words, the admission that a Europa league place would be a significant sign of success for his team shows that Udinese is nowhere near ready for a sustained run in the Champions League. Can a team that continues to sell its big assets, replacing them with players that have ‘huge potential’ but nothing more, be considered as serious candidates for playing with the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich on a regularly basis?
Surely a change in mentality is needed if a new dynasty is to be created, a club that will invest not only in the future but also in the present in order to seriously challenge the establishment? The fear is that the Bianconeri are comfortable being a mediocre Serie A club and that any kind of success is deemed a bonus rather than a spring board to build upon. If that is the case, then the Italian league will only be weakened as opposed to enriched by such a philosophy.
The weekend match with Parma will bring no comfort at all to the Friuli faithful. Along with the long term injured, Antonio Floro Flores and Diego Fabbrini are nursing knocks that will make them unavailable. Dusan Basta and Damiano Ferronetti will also be watching from the sidelines as Guidolin’s squad is stretched to its absolute limits.
Had they shown some desire and ambition during the transfer windows in signing star quality from the money generated by the sale of Sanchez, Gokhan Inler and Christian Zapata the above injury concerns may have been nothing more than slight annoyances. Instead they are massive setbacks which could see the Zebrette dropping out of contention for any kind of European football next season and we see little reason to expect anything different in subsequent seasons unless a concerted effort is made by the club to change its level of ambition.
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