UDINE. No mission accomplished. But not even any mission impossible. The new module proposed by Luca Gotti in the second half against Fiorentina did not lead to a comeback, but it could really represent the future of Udinese which, with a tactical framework different from the traditional 3-5-2, seems more jaunty and capable of building football, too. if it is clear that on a defensive level it will be necessary to record the famous “balances”, the key points for a coach who must evaluate the impact of his choices also in terms of solidity. In a nutshell, a team with 10 strikers and a goalkeeper may not score more goals than an opponent lined up with a cautious form.
The choices
Revisiting the 90-minute moves against Italiano’s viola helps not a little to understand why the Contarina coach looked for the resource in a different game system to try to overturn the result. Udinese, when it acts as a barrier to the initiatives of the opponents, manages to keep up the beat. Or rather, this was one of the qualities on which he based his salvation last season. Now it is not that the rearguard is waterproof with the 3-5-2: he conceded a goal first against Juventus (and drew courtesy of the opposing goalkeeper), Napoli, Roma and Fiorentina. Yes, in the last three outings, a sign that with opponents of a certain thickness he also yields with the “wall” to three that with the viola was composed as usual by Becao, Nuytinck and Samir and reinforced on the side lanes by Soppy and Stryger Larsen. In midfield Arslan, Walace and Pereyra in support of the Beto-Deulofeu duo. Result, a lot of Fiorentina and, as Gotti explained, too much difficulty in the “climbing”, in a nutshell the combinations between the players in a defensive key.
The turning point
At the beginning of the recovery the change. Under the result due to the “rigorino” granted after a Var replay, Udinese presented itself on the field with a 4-2-3-1, thanks to the insertions of Makengo for Arslan and, above all, Pussetto for Soppy, a move that he hijacked Larsen to the right to play the “full-back” and Samir to the left. Four-man defense, therefore, two midfielders and three attacking midfielders behind Beto, that is Pereyra, Pussetto and Deulofeu for what was a 4-2-3-1 that was decidedly different from the 3-4-2-1 on which the same Juventus coach had worked last season to propose Pereyra and Deulofeu behind the striker, a tactical idea that was never realized thanks above all to the Catalan’s injury. He is the key element of what is a more offensive 4-4-2. A form that is gaining ground in Italy and that Udinese touched last week against Napoli and Roma.
I dubbi
Will Gotti propose it again? The idea of exploiting Deulofeu, but also the Molina option ahead of Larsen, is not a little teasing. The key is linked to the attacking outsiders, because the defense would often be 1 against 1. Sunday held up, but it must be so as a rule in 4-2-3-1.
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