Udinese look to continue their excellent form as we head on into the second third of the season. Great wins over Roma and Inter of late have confirmed this side’s credentials for another top four finish. This weekend they play host to Chievo, and a win could potentially – although unlikely – take us back to the top of the table. The Friulani maintain a one hundred percent home record – played six; won six.

As a matter of interest, here are our Serie A scorers so far this term:

Di Natale 9
Isla 3
Basta 2
Domizzi 1
Benatia 1

Di Natale is monopolising the scoring charts as always. Isla is in excellent form, while we have defenders coming up with goals as well (which is part of what’s making them so good this season).

We have the best defence in the league, conceding only six times. The second best defence is Lazio’s – leaking nine goals. It will be a matter of interest to see if Udinese can continue this all season. Well, let’s damn hope they can!

On the return from the international break, Udinese head to Bergamo to face the returned Atalanta. Both sides have made excellent starts to the campaign, but it is the Bianconeri that sit high in the table, as Atalanta’s points penalty has somewhat dampened their impact in the early part of the season.

We kick off on Sunday afternoon along with the majority of the matches. Here is the probable line-up:

subs: Padelli, Ferronetti, Ekstrand, Neuton, Badu, Abdi, Floro Flores.

We continue to utilise the 3-5-1-1 shape which has been a success so far this season, as in the last. Perhaps the most pleasing thing is that it’s with slightly different personnel, or redeployed personnel. Isla plays as part of the midfield three, as Dusan Basta is in the side; Torje has basically slotted into Sanchez’s old role; Pinzi has shifted over and Danilo has replaced Zapata.

Looking at our opposition, Atalanta have shown themselves to be a quite capable and dangerous side this season. Players like Schelotto, Moralez, Cigarini and of course our own Tanque, Denis, have been excellent additions for them. It will be a tough match.

The Orobici’s creative danger-man is Maxi Moralez (right of picture).

His counterpart is the young Romanian Gabriel Torje. Hopefully he can open his goalscoring account for us.

Udinese-owned goalscorer German Denis completes Atalanta’s Argentine attack.

We will be looking to continue our undefeated start to the season in Bergamo.

In this week of the international break, I thought I’d take the opportunity to write a post removed from the usual match build-up/aftermath affair, and turn the spotlight on to a quite promising, if little known, primavera player.

In the Europa League match against Celtic, Argentine midfielder Cristian Battocchio made his full club debut, playing at the inside left position in our 3-5-1-1 formation. He had a good game, showing the same promise that seems to be typical of Udinese youth products. The young man makes the claim of being able to play anywhere in the midfield, which, if Guidolin were to consider him for more regular playing time, certainly works for our formational set-up. Time will tell if he is ready for that step up though…

Young Cristian, who is still a teenager, is just one of a selection of promising midfielders that have come into the first team in the last few months. Summer signings Thierry Doubai and Abdoul Sissoko joined him and breakthrough player Agyemang-Badu, while new youth in the form of versatile winger Roberto Pereyra further added to the South American contingent.

Like Battocchio, Doubai and Pereyra made their full debuts against Celtic while Sissoko is yet to appear. As we all know, Agyemang-Badu has been preferred to Doubai in the early part of the season.

What makes Battocchio stand out from these other youthful talents is the type of player he is. Unlike the others, he is known to be solely a creative presence. A deep-lying, central regista type player in the mold of David Pizarro. Hopefully better than that man. Perhaps a nicer comparison for Udinese fans is Gaetano D’Agostino. Battocchio’s smaller – more Pizarro-like – but he is still only nineteen and perhaps he will grow a little more physically.

Will Battocchio see much of the pitch in Serie A this season? My gut instinct says no, but it is certainly a season where he can build a platform for a real breakthrough in the next season or the one after. The very occasional sub appearance is all I expect, but that might be all this young talent needs at this stage. A little faith from the manager and a chance to show what he can do.

I have finally learnt how to embed videos! Below is a press conference with Battocchio earlier this year. He really does look like a kid, peering from the behind microphones as if he hardly belongs at all.

Damiano Ferronetti has returned to the Udinese squad, after missing all of last season – and chunks of the one before – courtesy of a crippling knee injury. The twenty-six year old defender is a very welcome ‘addition’ to the back line that has actually proved quite strong so far this year. We’ve leaked just one goal in five Serie A games. That’s right: one! Nevertheless, Damiano feels like a new signing.

Serie A stops for a week now so that international matches may be played. It comes at the right time really. Yes, we are on a very good early season run and we don’t want to lose that momentum, but we are missing a few players (Ferronetti was one of them), and the current starting lineup could probably do with a little relief. It’s been virtually unchanged since the first day. Absentees like Floro Flores and Pasquale are on their way back, and hopefully they’ll be in place for the shortish trip to Bergamo a week and a half from now. That said I don’t think Guidolin will change the squad too much because, after all, we are flying high right now.

The team is working together very well. One goal conceded in five games, whichever way you look at it, speaks very well of the goalkeeper and the defence. At the other end, scoring hasn’t been ‘too’ much of a problem evidenced by the fact we’ve won three of our five games. Of course, if you take away Toto whom has scored in every game where we have actually scored, then we look a little dry. The other contributors to the business of net-rippling have all been defensive types, and we could do with a hand (or, more appropriately, a foot) from the midfield group. I’m especially thinking of young Gabriel Torje whom, in the absence of other forwards, has started every game so far and could do with performing the ritual of the duck breaking to confirm his early promise.

Still though, we shouldn’t mind overmuch that Di Natale carries the burden of being our primary source of goals, because he has been Capocannoniere twice in a row, and has been playing as our designated lone striker anyway. Here’s to three in a row, Toto!

Aeroplanino

Mauricio Isla has recently commented that Udinese are looking a little thin in the forward department; with our injuries, that is very much true. As I’ve already said, Floro Flores has been injured. Paulo Barreto is also out at the moment. Quite honestly, why is it that this man seems to be perpetually broken? He missed a large part of last season with Bari – part of what got them relegated – and I get a feeling we’re not going to be seeing him for a while.

These absences leave Torje, Di Natale and Fabbrini, with Abdi and maybe even Pinzi that can play the attacking midfield/second striker role. That’s just one primary striker. You can never be sure with Udinese, but – if I was a gambling man – I’d be willing to bet they’ll be looking to reinforce in January.

I’ll finish this piece with a brief look at the top of the table.

1 Juventus 11
2 Udinese 11
3 Napoli 10
4 Palermo 10
5 Cagliari 10
6 Roma 8
7 Lazio 8

Of course, it’s Bianconero glory at the top, with us and Juventus leading the way. We are hotly pursued by a host of southern teams, from islanders to Romans. The experts will tell you that Palermo and Cagliari are nice surprises. It’s all early season though.. I have little doubt that the table will look very different after just a couple more games. Hopefully the one constant will be Udinese.

Udinese 2-1 Rennes, is the result of our first group match in the Europa League. Goals from Antonio Di Natale and Pablo Armero saw the Zebrette come from behind to take 3 points and go second in Group I.

A proper review and a preview of the weekend is coming soon!

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) is the second leg of Udinese’s Champions League play-off against Arsenal. As we all know, the Gunners lead 1-0 from the first tie in London. And of course, with the away goal rule, our boys have the pressure of having to score at least once to have a chance of getting through to the CL group stages…

Udinese – Arsenal … 24th August, 1945 GMT at the Friuli stadium

If we are to be optimistic, we can say that the significance of being at the Friuli for this match is not to be underestimated. The team was extremely strong here for large parts of last season, often carrying the side when perhaps our individual stars wouldn’t have got the victory for us. Hopefully this invisible force will push behind our squad – with its new players – once again.

Meanwhile, the mood around the club seems to be a philosophical one, one of reflection. We’ve accepted that we’ve lost very good players over the summer, and reinforcements to some extent have been brought in. Maybe we’re not as good as last season, but the market’s been tough on Udinese this summer, and our international exposure has only contributed to the number and quality of players we’ve lost.

On the other hand, our opponents seem to be floundering. It’s probably excessive to say that Arsenal are a club in turmoil, but they certainly have problems in many areas of their club. They’ve lost a world class player and are at risk of losing a second, they’re mentally and defensively frail, they have myriad injuries and their manager’s under fire (Arsene Wenger has been banned for a further two matches for effectively ignoring his first ban). They are there to be beaten. Udinese need to pressurise from the first moment, attack with the wings and beat their defence into submission, and most importantly take chances!

I’ll be posting line-ups closer to the kick off time.

FORZA RAGAZZI

So, here we are. Europe’s premiere footballing competition and our great club Udinese are in it. But before we can claim a place in the group stages, we must first overcome Arsenal. The Zebrette are off to London tomorrow night and will be hoping for a point from the first leg affair or perhaps more.

Arsenal vs. Udinese, 1945 GMT at the Emirates stadium.

Preview

It will be an immensely difficult task for Udinese if they are wanting to win this game, but it’s not as bad as it first looks. For a start, one could argue that drawing Bayern instead of the Gunners would’ve been the worse draw; second, Arsenal are hardly in the best of shape. They weren’t exactly inspired in their opening Premiership fixture at the weekend and just today they’ve sold Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona. (It ties them curiously to us in that respect, what with us having sold Fenomeno Cileno Sanchez to the Catalans as well.)

Looking at the match-up itself, if both teams play the way they usually play it should be a fantastic game. The pleasure one can obtain from watching either of these sides play football is pretty sizeable, nevermind the possibilities of both of them taking the field at the same time. Both squads have been reduced over the summer but they still have talented players in abundance. And the weaknesses inherent in both sides only add to the parallels that can be drawn.

Probable line-ups

This being twenty four hours in advance these lineups are subject to change – injuries, false information etc.

It seems Guidolin is going to go with a 4-5-1 formation, something I don’t remember seeing explicitly during preseason. There was the 4-4-1-1 and the 3-5-1-1, so we have at least seen particular elements of this formation but not the formation as a whole. Looked at another way, it’s more defensive than last season but with an identical midfield set-up.

Udinese (4-5-1): Handanovic; Basta, Benatia, Danilo, Neuton; Isla, Pinzi, Badu, Asamoah, Armero; Di Natale.

I can’t find any news on why Agyemang-Badu is preferred to Thierry Doubai.. Perhaps it’s just a team chemistry thing as Badu’s been with the Zebrette for a good deal longer than the new boy. It’s good to see Dusan Basta back with the side after a season out with injury. As for strikers, Floro Flores will probably be on the bench while Barreto is not yet ready. Denis is about to be sent to Atalanta, so with little else to spare, Toto takes to the field as lone striker. Oh how we must pray for a stellar performance from him tomorrow!

Relied on

As for the Londoners:

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Song, Wilshere; Gervinho, Rosicky, Walcott; Arshavin.

Being from England I know enough about this side to be able to draw some judgments on what I see here. From what I remember, left back Kieron Gibbs wasn’t all that great last season so perhaps we’ll be looking at our right flank for our penetration. Hopefully Isla can pick up where he left off from last season with his wing play. I hope young Neuton is up to the task of defending from Gervinho (if it is indeed him that’ll line up on the right). Despite the Barca-loving Cesc’s departure the Arsenal midfield is a force to be reckoned with: Jack Wilshere and Alex Song are creative and destructive presences respectively, while crafty Rosicky deployed ahead of them will have to be nullified by Badu. It is from Arshavin that perhaps the main threat will come.

1500 Udinese fans are travelling to London for the match… Hopefully they will be representing the club as noisily as they can in the Emirates Stadium, and we’ll all be cheering along at home – of course! – willing our side on in this, this greatest of endeavours.

Other news

Putting tomorrow’s big match aside for a moment, the Udinese blog is getting a new writer! We’ll soon be having a secondary blogger aboard here so that the blog will be kept – hopefully – consistently up to date and can grow into something great. Look out for a post from him soon.

For now…FORZA RAGAZZI!

It was over the course of the month of July that Udinese parted ways with three of its prized assets: Cristian Zapata, Gokhan Inler and Alexis Sanchez. We perhaps all knew that they’d be leaving eventually, and you can’t say they haven’t gone to the right kind of clubs as is appropriate of their talent level.

For example, Barcelona are acknowledged to be the best footballing club in the world at the moment – that’s Sanchez’s destination. Good God, how are all those great players going to fit?! But that’s not what those in Udine will be thinking about… Their minds will be occupied with how the club is going to go forward.

So suddenly Sanchez, Inler and Zapata are gone, great gaping holes left in the team where their irresistible presences once imposed so freely. The good news is Udinese are digging deep in their model-club handbook once again and bringing in promising prospects, players that will hopefully grow into suitable replacements for our departed kings. The Zebrette are a resourceful bunch; it would be best not to underestimate them or mistake them for a Sampdoria. The Blucerchiati were mismanaged terribly in the last season by President Garrone, but Giampaolo Pozzo has been the responsible owner of Udinese Calcio for twenty five years. The club’s only really gone from strength to strength.

Mercato dealings

I’ve already discussed our new midfielders and defender, respectively Abdoul Sissoko, Thierry Doubai and Danilo Larangeira. That’s some additional promise to the midfield area and a new player to hopefully bolster the defence now that Zapata has gone.

We’ve now bought one Sergio Piccoli Neuton, or Neuton (pictured above). He’s a young defender coming from Brazilian team Gremio who can play left side defence in a three, and both centre back and left back in a four. He seems a useful addition, fits well with the club ethic and formation system, and adds good versatility. The only down side is his name, which is something of a cross between a physicist famous for his theories on the laws of motion, and animal castration. I wonder if that will in some way exhibit itself in his play.

A minor transfer was Fernando Forestieri, who was bought out permanently from Genoa even though his coownership was resolved in favour of the Grifone to start with. He’s now gone on loan to Bari. I’m glad he’s been retained because he had a good time at Empoli and might be starting to show some real promise.

One thing that mystifies me about this club is its insistence on kicking out some players, even if they are actually quite good. I’m referring to Candreva and D’Agostino. They were back from loan and co-ownership, respectively; both have been sent back out without so much as a goodbye on new loan and co-ownership deals.

Certainly this adds fuel to the fire that some people bring against Udinese.. the fact that the club lacks real ambition. Let’s remind ourselves though that Udinese are a provincial team; the club needs to remain well balanced and realistic, and it is true that looking to the future rather than turning to those of recent history is not a bad strategy. I hope Serie A minnows Cesena and Siena enjoy these creative players and they help to keep them in Serie A … to kick start their careers again if nothing else!

Diego Fabbrini (right) and Alberto Paloschi, training with the Azzurini

Diego Fabbrini has been brought to the club. Last summer he was bought from Empoli on a co-ownership deal along with Gabriele Angella, but unlike his defensive counterpart he was loaned straight back to Tuscany for the season. Now he’s back. A trequartista/winger type, I hope he stays around … Certainly he’s been doing well in preseason so far. He’s a real talent and perhaps an integral part of the future of Udinese if he can get a good number of games.

Pre-season

Here is the team we used in a friendly against Nice last Saturday. Note the 3-5-1-1 shape, similar to last season, except that the position in behind the striker is more of a traditional trequartista role compared to the Sanchez-filled second striker position of 2010/11.

substitutions: Ekstrand for Domizzi, Neuton for Ekstrand, Badu for Doubai, Fabbrini for Asamoah, Denis for Abdi.
unusued substitutes: Belardi, Romo, Basta, Sissoko, Vydra.

The team lost 1-0 but there was no lack of promise and we probably deserved at least a point. This afternoon (Tuesday) the team are back in Udine for training.

It’s now about three and a half weeks ’til the start of the season and the team seems to be taking shape. Personally, I have my fingers crossed for one or two more significant market moves.

1. Udinese – Juventus
2. Lecce – Udinese
3. Udinese – Fiorentina
4. Milan – Udinese
5. Cagliari – Udinese
6. Udinese – Bologna
7. Atalanta – Udinese
8. Udinese – Novara
9. Napoli – Udinese
10. Udinese – Palermo
11. Udinese – Siena
12. Parma – Udinese
13. Udinese – Roma
14. Inter – Udinese
15. Udinese – Chievo
16. Lazio – Udinese
17. Udinese – Cesena
18. Genoa – Udinese
19. Udinese – Catania

Of course the home and away sides switch for the ritorno.

So first up is Juventus, at the Friuli. We made the Friuli pretty impenetrable last year, but not before – in this very fixture – we were beaten 0-4. I can’t see the same thing happening to be honest but it’s hardly a nice start. Elsewhere down the list, it seems our difficulties come in clumps: we have Napoli followed immediately by Palermo, and then a difficult December/April with Roma, Inter and Lazio clustered together. Lovely!

By way of summary, I present here a full list of the co-ownership deals that Udinese dealt with at the end of June.

Many moved on, perhaps no longer being considered worthy of a place, but some important figures were fully redeemed: German ‘El Tanque’ Denis, Paulo Barreto and also our favourite regista…

It will be curious to see if Barreto and D’Agostino remain in Udine. Certainly Barreto is an upgrade on Corradi, while what D’Ago can give us speaks for itself. I hope he can remain but maybe, if Pozzo wants him gone, then his time at the club is finally at an end.

Full list ahead:

Now fully owned by Udinese:

Paulo Vitor Barreto (previously co-owned by Bari), forward
Gaetano D’Agostino (previously co-owned by Fiorentina), midfielder
German Denis (previously co-owned by Napoli), forward

Now having fully left Udinese:

Alemao (to Vicenza), forward
Fernando Forestieri (to Genoa), forward
Salvatore Masiello (to Bari), defender
Kelvin Matute (to Crotone), midfielder
Girolamo Provenzano (to Matera), midfielder
Tatu (to Pisa), midfielder
Ernesto Torregrossa (to Hellas Verona), forward
Ricardo Villar (to Triestina), midfielder

Renewed co-ownerships:

Gabriele Angella (with Empoli), defender
Daniel Bradaschia (with Lumezzane), midfielder
Ricardo Chara (with Empoli), defender
Diego Fabbrini (with Empoli), forward
Flavio Lazzari (with Empoli), midfielder
Jonathan Rossini (with Sampdoria), defender
Fernando Tissone (with Sampdoria), midfielder