UDINE. To say that he knows the life, death and miracles of Udinese and Crotone is perhaps too much, but having trained both of them recently, Massimo Oddo is undoubtedly the most suitable coach to present Saturday’s match at Scida, where in December 2017 he obtained his first victory in Serie A at the helm of a Udinese then conducted for the following 24 games until the exemption taken after the eleventh consecutive defeat, which came precisely at the hands of Crotone in April 2018.
The Calabrian experience at the helm of the Pythagoreans lasted much shorter, but it is precisely in that month between November and December 2018 that the world champion met and trained Simy, the Crotone striker indicated as the number one danger for the Zebretta.
Oddo, has heard that in Udine patron Pozzo has sent the team to retreat to better prepare for the match of Saturday?
«Yes, I know because I always follow Udinese with affection, which I believe is clearly superior to Crotone. However, Cosmi’s team is fighting with a knife between their teeth, they have some good players and are showing that they are all finals, so pay attention ».
Given the 16 goals scored, attention must be paid especially to Simy, the striker you had in Crotone.
“He is a hard worker, he has embraced the cause, he is happy in Calabria and I believe that the environmental aspect has done a lot in his growth”.
Udinese are following him: would it suit the Bianconeri?
«I don’t know, but if Simy is scoring a lot of goals in a bottom-ranked team, I think he could also score in more structured and competitive teams.
He is a player who sees the goal and knows how to score, and then has a particular prerogative that is dictated by his foot number.
Having the 48 he is unable to kick from the neck and therefore uses the dry and precise platter even from a distance, hitting the ball like a pool player uses the cue, surprising the goalkeepers ».
In Udine, on the other hand, he coached De Paul, and also in this case we can speak of a player who has grown a lot.
«Now he has matured and helps the team in moments of difficulty. With me he was younger, I have always seen him as a great unexpressed talent and in difficult moments he could not make his mark ».
De Paul who did not play that infamous game with Crotone in Friuli and which cost her the exemption …
«Rodrigo had a bad knee on that occasion. The problem wasn’t him, but the lack of strikers, especially after the injury that took away Lasagna, but with this I don’t want to escape from the eleven consecutive defeats ».
And to say that “his” Udinese from Crotone entered the first of a series of consecutive victories. Would that Saturday be enough for Gotti to relaunch and seek reconfirmation?
«I argue that football is all head and that victories lead to victories, then it also depends on how close and how a club is close to its coach, because if the player sees that the club does not trust their coach, it is the end: it is created. some alibis.
It is a problem for many. Having said that, for me the memory of that 3-0 is indelible because it was my first victory in Serie A ».
Would Oddo in retrospect change anything about his experience at Udinese?
“It’s hard to say, but maybe during that period I should have changed something on a tactical level after the third, fourth defeat in a row, but only to give some new stimulus to the team that in my opinion had flattened out a bit.”
Do you think Gotti could have the same problem now, between forwards who don’t score and predictable play?
«It depends on how a coach sees their boys, and then it’s not that easy to read.
I did not change at that moment, I told myself that if we had achieved six positive results we could do them again, and then the team was not turned off in training, only then it got lost on Sunday and then in hindsight now I say that yes, I would have had to give the shock as when a new coach arrives and leads the players to concentrate on work with small precautions ». –
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