Nobody said this would be easy.

By: vin | November 23rd, 2008

You may be surprised to know that I’m writing this post with a great sense of relief. Why relief? Well, until about two weeks ago, I was silently wondering when the Zebrette would finally hit a patch of turbulence. I knew it would happen eventually, but because it hadn’t occurred prior to that Milan trip, there was this nagging thought of *when?* in the back of my head until then. Now, I know that the turbulence has arrived and more importantly, it’s arrived far from the end of the season.

Simply put, watching Udinese go through this rough patch after such a gleaming start is like getting that first ding or scratch on a new car; it pisses you off tremendously, but on some level, you’re OK with it, because you knew it was going to happen eventually, and now you don’t feel such an urgent need to keep that shiny finish perfect anymore. In that manner, it’s vindicating.

And now, our Zebrette, who were at one point buzzing around Inter’s ears at the top of the table, are back at a more well… Udinese-like position, thanks to these three results:

Inter 1-0 Udinese

Udinese 0-1 Reggina

Fiorentina 4-2 Udinese

So… what the hell’s been going wrong?

There are a few things, actually, and none of them have me particularly concerned. First, they seemed a little flat against Inter, almost as if they were giving the Nerazzurri a little too much respect. There were a few bright moments in that match, but all in all, it was an uncharacteristically medoicre performance against a talented side which (it needs to be said) wasn’t exactly playing at its best either. I think that a more on-form Inter squad would’ve torn an underperforming Udinese apart, while an on-form Udinese could’ve come away with a draw, at least, with Inter not playing at their best.

Against Reggina, the squad was just clearly irritated. They had just played the Amaranto four days earlier in a hotly contested Coppa match that ended even after extra time, but which Udinese took on penalties, 8-7. After a battle like that (bearing in mind that the smaller teams seem to always wake up for the Coppa Italia), the last thing you want to do is play the same squad again, but that’s what they did, and their frustration was evident. Also – and I’m not even sure why I’m mentioning this, because it seems to be an established problem at Friuli – I’ve seen better home crowds at high school football games. Seriously.

Now… the Zebrette actually looked like they were pretty much back in their own shoes against Fiorentina, who Udinese really opened fire on in the first half. Moo-Two’s penalty inspired his team though, and combined with Montolivio’s heroics in front of an enthusiastic home crowd (are you taking notes, Zebrette tifosi?) that’s all she wrote. [Aside: Note also that Di Natale has been out for the better part of two weeks, and while this doesn't necessarily blunt Udinese's attack, it leaves Marino with one less attacker for the all-important rotation. I get the feeling that Di Natale's late entrance against Fiorentina was a little premature, and that he wasn't started for a reason... that reason being a flu or knee pain, both of which have been bothering the captain as of late.]

If anything, the match against Fiorentina has reassured me that this is just a rocky period, rather than a full-on slump. We’ll see though, as Udinese host Chievo on the 30th, and Dynamo Zagreb on the 3rd. The Chievo match will be a good litmus test as to whether or not I’m right about the transience of Udinese’s rough times, whereas Dynamo Zagreb will provide the real challenge; the storied Croatian side will be looking to make up for their heavy loss at the hands of Tottenham. I think Udinese will be up for it. [Jedi Mind Trick]You do too.[/Jedi Mind Trick]