I do like these late day games as it gives me time to write these previews with the best news available

So we have a good Udinese side coming to the Olimpico and with 2 wins on the trot for us, there will be expectations to keep up the momentum and claim another 3 points here. Consistency would do wonders for this young side we've put together.

Squad News

Great news in is that Mattia Destro is back in contention for a place in the squad for this match after shaking off a muscular problem while Dodo has been training with the squad for a week and no longer appears to be carrying and knocks or injuries, meaning he could be in line to either deputise for Federico Balzaretti, who is out for 2 weeks with a thigh strain, or coming in as a sub to make his long overdue Roma and Serie A debut. Also in line for a starting berth is Miralem Pjanic, who played in both of Bosnia's WC qualifiers.

Maarten Stekelenburg will continue on in goal after appearing to have survived some early patchy form to deliver 2 solid performances against Atalanta and Genoa. In front of the Dutchmen will probably be Ivan Piris at RB, having convinced Zeman that he may not be the flop signing many of us thought him be prior to that barnstormer against Genoa. Leandro Castan actually played RB for Brazil during the international qualifiers, but Zeman has rubbished this so he will start at CB alongside Burdisso, who has come back into the squad to replace Marquinhos, who will slot in at LB for Balzaretti.

In midfield, Zeman once again has all 7 of his midfielders available for this match, but just like the Genoa game, it will be extremely hard to tell who will get the 3 places as they're all up for grabs. We can actually look to Zeman's preference against squad rotation as a guide to how this may turn out so with that, I believe Alessandro Florenzi will retain a spot along with Daniele De Rossi so that will leave the 3rd spot for Pjanic, Michael Bradley, Marquinho, and Panagiotis Tachtsidis to duke it out for. Being that Tachtsidis had a good game against Genoa, I'm going to go with him though I won't be surprised if I'm wrong lol.

Despite Destro's recovery from injury, I believe the front 3 is locked in with Francesco Totti and Erik Lamela flanking Pablo Osvaldo. All 3 scored last weekend so I don't believe Zeman will drop anyone when they're in that good of form. Destro and to an extent, Nico Lopez, have some work to do if they're going to crack into one of those spots. Lopez, for his part, is becoming frustrated reportedly with his lack of match time. Too early to know what that may mean though.




The Opposition: Udinese Calcio



It's been a tough week for Udinese, having been beaten by BSC Young Boys 3-1 in Switzerland after beating Liverpool in the previous EL round. To compound that defeat, they have also lost Diego Fabbrini, Mehdi Benatia, Giovanni Pasquale and Dusan Basta to injury, severely weakening the side for this match. This is how Guidolin is expected to line up his side:

Udinese (3-5-1-1): Brkic; Gabriel Silva, Coda, Domizzi; Faraoni, Pereyra, Allan, Lazzari, Armero; Maicosuel; Di Natale.

The Coach: Francesco Guidolin



Easily one of my favorite coaches in Serie A at the moment, Guidolin has been around at the Serie A scene since around 1993 when he took over as coach of Atalanta. He ultimately made his name however with Palermo by leading the Sicilian club to their first ever promotion to Serie A as well as a spot in the UEFA Cup in 2006. To this day, he remains a legend with the club and its fans. He has come to even more prominence as of late with his stint at Parma as well as with current employers Udinese, whom he previously coached back 1998, around the same time Zeman was coaching Roma.

The Captain: Antonio Di Natale



The legendary Gianfranco Zola recently called Toto "my heir" and it's not at all hard to see why. The man does nothing but score goals and against us, we appear to be a favorite bogey target for the Neapolitan. Having rifled in 23 goals last season, Di Natale has been a bit slow out of the gate this season with only 2 goals so far, tied with new signing Maicosuel. Considering his scoring record against us recently, I'd say the odds are good that if Udinese score today, he'll be the one to do it.

The New Threat: Maicosuel



I usually reserve this area for the danger man, but seeing as Toto Di Natale is obviously that man for Udinese, I'm taking this time to bring to our attention, Udinese co-leading scorer. Having signed with the club from Hoffenheim this summer, Maicosuel introduced himself to the Udine faithful in shambolic style as his casual chip over the bar against Braga cost Udinese Champions League football and condemned them to the EL predicament they currently find themselves in. The Brazilian has rebounded well since however and have caused plenty of problems since that day and while all of our attention will be on Toto, we need to keep eyes on this one as well, given his strength and skill on the ball.

Prediction

The single most important objective today is to keep things consistent. The first 20 minutes of the match tend either be frenetically in our favor or in the opponents favor. Udinese are no Juventus so we must impose ourselves on them from the get-go and catch them out early and often. Failing to score in that period will be disappointing, but if the balance of play still favors us going into HT then we must come out with more energy in the 2nd. Guidolin and Di Natale know all about us so while we appear to be unpredicatable as Guidolin, put it, we can't be fooled into thinking he doesn't have a plan for how to handle us.

3-1 Roma

A snapshot of our record against Udinese thus far, courtesy of the Roma site:

An image from the most recent meeting between Roma and Udinese on 11 April: Marquinho’s celebration in front of the Curva Sud. A goal which secured victory for the Giallorossi a few days on from the defeat to Lecce (4-2 to the side from Salento). The Brazilian scored a header to make it 3-1 and put the game to bed, allowing Luis Enrique and his staff to sleep easy for once. It was a tough match until the last minute, and the home side played intelligently, showing a lot of heart. Osvaldo had given Roma the lead at the start of the game but it was cancelled out at the end of the first half by Fernandes. However, Totti’s goal on 86 minutes looked to have sealed the three points for Roma. Then came Marquinho’s goal moments later which confirmed the win. That turned out to be the coach from Asturia's last win in charge.

Going even further back in time, over the last decade (from 2002) Roma have won 6 of their 10 meetings with Udinese at the Olimpico (2002/03, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12), with the visitors coming out on top in 2 (2004/05 and 2005/06), and 2 draws. Overall the two teams have met on 38 occasions in Serie A: Roma have won 21, Udinese 5, and there have been 12 draws. The games have produced 126 goals, 85 for the Giallorossi and 41 for the men from Udine. Francesco Totti seems to enjoy playing the Friuli-based outfit at the Stadio Olimpico: it’s not only the number of goals the captain has scored against Udinese – at 15 they’re one of his favourite opponents – but also the quality of his strikes. In 1998/99 with Zeman in charge Totti hit the ball first-time into the top corner, catching goalkeeper Luigi Turci off-guard. In 2000, the year of the third Scudetto, Totti’s left-footed volley in front of the Curva Nord sent the whole stadium wild. Two years later in 2002 his right foot half-volley without even looking where the goal was left De Sanctis clutching at thin air. One ‘Capitano’, there’s only one ‘Capitano.’

A must win. Lazio dropped points, we must act.

ERIC LAMELA!!!!

ffs..

I only see two reasons for this loss its either Roma cant play by Zeman's tactics or the defence is just utter rubbish.

Zeman just doesnt know shit about defense. Needs to shut up about juve and start learning some defending.

Damn, I miss Montella. A true Roman hero.

"Roma hit the self-destruct button once again as they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 for the second time at the Olimpico this season. Just as against Bologna, the Giallorossi opened their clash with Udinese with some magnificent football, but it all soon wore off to allow the Zebrette to get a foothold in the game. Those have not been the only two games in which Zdenek Zeman's side have slowed after coming out of the blocks quickly, suggesting that there is something more deep-rooted behind the side's inability to hold on to big leads. They have regularly looked sluggish in the middle part of games and been unable to call upon a second wind late in matches, suggesting that the Czech's notorious training regimes are perhaps conspiring against his side. Teams facing Roma know they will always have a chance, and if the Giallorossi players are being over-worked, it could continue to play into opponents' hands."

joint worst def in the league

sukrut23 wrote: joint worst def in the league

Yep the other team being Chievo.But we also have the best attack along with Juventus both teams having scored 20 goals so far this season.