What’s wrong with Udinese?

By: vin | December 21st, 2008

Let’s look at the facts here:

Udinese haven’t won in Serie A since October 29th. (That was a 2-goal away win at Catania, in case you’re wondering.)
Their most recent win (counting UEFA) was against Dinamo Zagreb on December 3rd.
In more contemporary (post-Dinamo) history, Udinese were destroyed 3-0 by Atalanta on December 7th, and a week later, they threw away a 3-goal lead during Lazio’s visit, which ended at a draw. Most recently, the Zebrette were shut out at NEC.

So, where does that leave us? Well… you might not want to know.

Udinese (6-6-4) sit at 11th place (before the Dec. 21st matches), and are staring down the barrel of a visit to Giuseppe Meazza where the Rossoneri wait, plenty pissed off following their defeat at the hands of Juventus. After that, it’s the winter break, with the next match on January 11th against crazy Cassano’s Sampdoria.

Now… first off, it’s probably good that Udinese have to face Milan (rather than say… Lecce or Chievo) during this rough patch, mainly because the Zebrette traditionally play better against bigger squads. Of course, that’s when Udinese are playing *like Udinese,* and right now they’re not. Moreover, even IF (and this is a gigantic “if”) Udinese come up big against the Rossoneri, any momentum gained might be for naught, as the next match after Milan isn’t until after the break.

So the situation isn’t good *at all,* but how the hell did our Zebrette get here to begin with? I mean… things were going so well, right?

I’ll tell you what’s *not* the problem: Marino, and/or his choice of players. This team has won with just about every striker combination, and they’ve lost with just about every striker combination, so I don’t see an issue there… and I don’t think that the 4-3-3 (in and of itself) is at fault either. Marino may opt for the 4-3-3 on a weekly basis, but *will* drop a forward back where warranted, and sometimes on-the-fly. So while on paper, Marino’s sticking with the same-old, same-old, he’s effectively switching it to a temporary 4-4-2, or 4-3-1-2 as appropriate. Anyway, my point is, we can’t blame the coach for tactical stagnation.

Instead, I think that the problem lies within the team’s mental state. Yeah, I know; it almost sounds cliche to talk about mentality at this point, but it’s true. Seriously, look at the Lazio match. Three goals up, and then what? A *big* lead was squandered, and Marino’s words tell the tale:

“When we conceded the goal for 3-1, we became gripped by fear . Lazio saw that and took advantage. We sat increasingly deep, relaxed and in the end were caught. We wanted the victory, but had convinced ourselves that we had already won.”

Look, this is a team that wasn’t used to winning at the rate that we saw early in the campaign, and it was inevitable that they’d drop a match here and there. WE knew that. WE realized that we were watching Udinese, *not* Inter or Juve, and WE knew enough to hope for, but not *expect* the best outcome every week. However, from the looks of it, despite the fact that the word “Scudetto” was banned in the locker room, the team started to expect wins, and when the wins stopped coming, the Zebrette, as a team, got scared.

So, at this point, playing a squad that nobody expects them to beat (looking at Milan here) might be just what the doctor ordered. Why? Because they won’t be *expecting* the win, and subsequently, nor will they be “gripped by fear” if things take a turn for the worse. This team needs to return to its underdog, dark horse culture… the same culture that (as I alluded to earlier) made Udinese such a pain in the ass for those bigger squads to play.

As crazy as it sounds, winning a lot ruined Udinese, and losing might just be what fixes them. Of course, if half the squad is sold during the transfer window… <shudder> I don’t even want to think about that. I haven’t heard many rumors, and I hope it stays that way.