It ends 1-3 as in the summer against Chelsea, but since the friendlies must be interpreted going beyond the result, it must be said that against West Ham, Udinese, in some ways in an experimental version, would not have deserved the defeat given what they have created and granted in the two penalty areas.
However, if you collect two goals due to obvious mistakes by the goalkeepers (first Silvestri and then Padelli) it is clear that it is easy to compromise the score.
At the end of a game played in front of a few close friends and with the first chill creeping into your bones, Sottil can still see the glass as half full: for an hour, without four starters (Becao, Udogie, Makengo and Deulofeu) his team if he played it even proposing something new.
Above all, the position of the men at the beginning of the action caught the eye: with the opponents who went to press high on Silvestri’s throw-in, we saw Bijol get up on the same line as Walace, forming a sort of double play which allowed to the bianconeri, albeit with some risk, to restart in the open field.
It’s a pity that, partly by default in the last step and partly due to a lack of malice in the sills, the Bianconeri wasted too much.
In addition to Pereyra’s goal, which arrived after twelve laps of the hand, we counted at least five other chances: those failed by Beto between the two halves, the crossing of the posts centered by Lovric on a free kick, another sure-hit shot by the Slovenian rejected by a defender and the two wasted opportunities by Arslan (the second really sensational) when it was 1-2.
Always looking at the glass half full, Festy Ebosele’s performance should be underlined: in the non-possession phase he committed at least a couple of amnesias that are unacceptable at these levels, but when he pushes this boy he makes havoc. Pereyra’s goal was born from a percussion from him, from him the cross for Beto’s failure to double and the two assists in the second half for Arslan.
In the first half on the left and in the second half on the right: definitely more at ease in the second version.
Coming to the defects, something more was expected to be built from Samardzic who Sottil replaced after 45′ with Arslan.
In defense on the centre-right, Ehizibue was employed due to the many absences. The Nigerian has not disfigured, but has neither the physical structure nor the competitive ferocity of Becao. If we then consider that the right-wing chain was completed by two other players who tend to “look” at the pitch more forward than behind (Pereyra and Samardzic), West Ham entered that wing quite frequently in the first half.
In attack between Beto and Success the second did a little better. The Portuguese catches your eye when he starts in progression but continues to argue a little too much with the ball.
On the left, despite Ebosele’s good will, the best Udogie is still missing. In the second half, Sottil made the young Portuguese Buta make his Juventus debut after suffering a broken tibia.
Impossible to judge him but the impression is that the boy has to gain weight to withstand the impact of Serie A. The moment Walace and Bijol left