Udinese Vs. Palermo: Preview

By: Steven | October 19th, 2007

Sunday October 21, 2007
Stadio Friuli, Udine

Squad Status

Palermo

Fabrizio Miccoli is still suffering from the injury he picked up against Milan, while Giuseppe Biava is suspended for getting send off against Reggina in the last match. Lendro Rinaudo and Ciro Capuano will probably return to the starting eleven, while Miccoli’s place is likely to be filled by Edison Cavani.

Udinese

Big problems in the midfield-area for Pasquale Marino: both Cristian Obodo and Giampiero Pinzi are likely to be out for the game, while non-scoring Simone Pepe and Antonio Floro Flores will probably be replaced by Antonio Di Natale and Gyan Asamoah.

Categorical Matchup

Goalie- Palermo: Fontana’s old, but he still ain’t rusty. Handanovic has conceded more goals than any other goalie in the left half of the table this season, so if our boys up front decide to put their dry spell to an end, poor Samir might have to turn himself around a few times.

Defense- Palermo: Slight advantage for Palermo. Zapata and Felipe are a great pair, but when under pressure they still make a lot of mistakes. Palermo can count on Rinaudo again, so the defense will be at his best.

Midfield- Palermo: Problems for Udinese, with their central midfielders gone. Jankovic will probably start in favour of Bresciano, so that might be the only Palermo-problem.

Forwards- Push: Both offenses are suffering a dry spell. Udinese has scored less than any of the first 10 teams, despite the presence of Quagliarella and Di Natale. Palermo will miss capocannoniere Miccoli, but the offense scored 17 goals in the pre-match test earlier this week.

Final Analysis

There’s 2 possibilities for this game: 1) it’s gonna be boring as hell, or 2): party! Why? With two sides barely scoring, we might not see a lot of goals, as they might both play a defensive style. On the other hand, the Udinese-defense is all but flawless, so if Amauri might get the power back…poor Handanovic.

Prediction

1-2, same as last year. I think the game might go up equally, with a lot of tackles and cards. Cavani scores the match winner with a long-distance shot.