Twenty-six shots, one goal, and it was not Udinese’s
Udinese held 65 per cent of the ball at the Bluenergy Stadium this afternoon. They took 26 shots. They won 16 corners to Cagliari’s one. They lost the game 1-0.
The goal arrived in the 54th minute from the kind of moment defenders replay for weeks. Lennon Miller played a back-pass that Christian Kabasele had not read, and Daniel Maldini was already moving. He took it off the Belgian and rolled it into an empty net. Cagliari managed two shots on target across the afternoon, and that was one of them.
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Pisacane’s side keep converting almost nothing
Cagliari have now won four of their opening five. Fabio Pisacane took the job with a squad most forecasts had spending the season looking downwards, and the shape of the wins keeps repeating: concede the territory, block what comes, take the one chance that appears.
Elia Caprile carried much of it. He stopped an angled Idrissa Gueye drive, reacted late to keep out Kabasele’s volley from close range, and got across quickly enough to prevent a Harry Winks own goal. Alessandro Deiola and Ze Pedro put bodies in front of efforts from Giorgi Chakvetadze and Vakoun Bayo. All of that happened without M’Bala Nzola, Mattia Felici, Yael Trepy and Riyad Idrissi, and with Maldini starting days after a car accident that had filled the Italian back pages.
A third straight loss, and Zaniolo’s afternoon spoiled
Kosta Runjaic’s Udinese have lost three in a row. Lazio beat them, then Inter came back from 2-0 down to win 5-3 at San Siro, and now this. Nicolo Zaniolo returned to the starting eleven on the back of an Italy recall, his first call-up in two years, and collected a yellow card inside four minutes.
Keinan Davis pulled a muscle in the 38th minute during the move where both Zaniolo and Mergim Vojvoda wasted a Hassane Kamara pull-back, and Idrissa Gueye replaced him. Late on, Alieu Fadera had the chance to settle it on an Adam Obert counter and did not take it. Cagliari did not need him to.
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