Final result: Udinese-Empoli 1-1
UDINESE’S REPORT CARDS (by Alessio Piazza)
Okoye 6 – Never dangerously busy. He senses Niang’s penalty but it’s not enough to repel it.
Perez 6 – A careful race where he often tries to get ahead of the closing stages. Cancellieri, however, puts him in difficulty with his attempts and forces him into the foul which costs him a yellow card midway through the first half.
Bijol 6.5 – It closes well any space that is created in its area. Dominant with his head in clearing his own area.
Kristensen 6 – A few naive and useless fouls in an area of the pitch that didn’t require it. For the rest, it contains Niang’s few attempts well.
Ehizibue 6 – The winger runs and tries to make himself dangerous with his crosses. Too bad they are often inaccurate. From 55′ Ebosele 6 – A lot of running but often in vain. Never actually dangerous going forward and when he retreats he is late and commits a foul.
Walace 6 – He maneuvers well in midfield but alternates interesting conclusions with equally forgettable ones. The ball today seemed to be hotter than usual. From 86′ Zarraga SV
Payero 6.5 – He runs a lot and makes excellent recoveries, lots of them. Less well in the support phase where he is often imprecise but his running and his interdictions throughout the match make him the best in the department.
Kamara 6 – He presses, runs and crosses whenever he can. His crosses are also interesting but his teammates don’t understand and never reach the ball. From 87′ Ferreira SV
Samardzic 6 – Better in the recovery phase where, generously, he blocks the Azzurri’s counterattacks and lets his team restart. Little clarity and coldness in the finalization phase where he often gets ahead of himself. Bad at the end when, even on this occasion, he was anticipated by Cambiaghi and committed the penalty foul which penalized his team. He made amends in the 104th minute by scoring the equalizer from a penalty.
Success SV – Left due to injury after a few minutes. From 6′ Brenner 6 – He enters well and immediately shows himself to be very active. He always seeks dialogue with his teammates and makes good plays. From 55′ Davis 5 – The number 9, who has just taken over, has a great opportunity after a perfect serve from Lucca but misses from just a few meters away. An error that weighs a lot.
Lucca 5.5 – Tough match for him, always under siege from the Italian rearguard. Inaccurate banks during the attack phase. Much more useful in the non-possession phase where he uses his height and physical prowess to ward off dangerous crosses into his own area.
Cannavaro 5.5 – His Udinese should have done more today. Playing at home, they had the chance to secure safety with the 3 points but fear and too many technical errors reign supreme.
EMPOLI’S REPORT CARDS (by Alessio Piazza)
Caprile 5.5 – He too never gets dangerously busy. On the other hand there are the various often imprecise references.
Bereszynski 6 – Relatively scholastic performance. Few errors and few forward propositions. It does its job and nothing more. From 59′ Walukiewicz 5.5 –Entrance to forget. Wrong supports and interventions out of time. She grows as the minutes pass and makes a perfect intervention on Davis who was about to kick on goal.
Ismajli 6.5 – He clears his area well when the ball reaches his area and holds the line of defense very well.
Luperto 5.5 – Some closures were made at the right times but there were significantly more wrong throws and errors in the restarts (especially in the first half).
Gyasi 5 – Never dangerous, at least not against Udinese. For his team, however, it is several times. He loses the ball on more than one occasion in a position on the pitch where he should never make mistakes.
Sticks 5.5 – The free kicks are almost all his. Too bad none of these are ever accurate. Crosses that often end beyond the back line. From 59′ Fazzini 5 – Come in to give quality with its freshness. He tries unsuccessfully and becomes the protagonist, at the end, of a too flashy hold in the area which allows the Friulians to equalize the match on a penalty.
Fats 6 – The warning in the 4th minute of the game partly affected the match. He doesn’t completely leave the game and is the protagonist of some interesting crosses and makes an excellent retreat to close on Samardzic. From 80′ Marin SV
Maleh 6 – We don’t see much but he scores a goal that Guida, with quite a bit of controversy, cancels out. He lacks a bit of determination given his technical qualities.
Pezzella 5.5 – Ups and downs that affect his race. Some interesting through balls on the left and some wrong plays where the ball is dragged off the pitch. Inaccurate,
Chancellors 6 – His cuts are excellent in breaking through the Juventus rearguard. Dangerous even with his jerks that force Perez to stop him with a foul. From 80′ Cambiaghi SV
Cerri 6 – Many duels and an interesting through ball for his teammate. Then he was forced to leave the pitch after half an hour due to injury. From 30′ Niang 6.5 – We see little, except for the foul on Kristensen which leads Guida to cancel Maleh’s (beautiful) goal. At the end of the match, however, he takes the responsibility for the penalty on his shoulders and scores it!
Nicholas 5.5 – His boys play the game they were supposed to play. They know how to suffer and strike at the right time. However, he was penalized by the substitution of Fazzini who, perhaps being too young and inexperienced, threw the match away in the 104th minute.