Daniele Padelli, one of the leaders of the dressing room, was this week's guest in the Udinese Tonight studio to discuss Udinese's current predicament.
“I've never been in a situation like this before,” the veteran goalkeeper admitted. “It's not easy to find an explanation because you can see the quality in the team but we're not able to show it on the pitch. A team is the amalgamation of different players, each with their own story. Lots of small things have combined to create something big and dangerous. Perhaps we were too convinced about our own ability.
“We have to get ourselves out of this situation and I think it might only take one result to give us the push we needed. We need to find the spark that can ignite the fire.”
Besides the players themselves, another man looking for that spark is Paolo Zanetti.
“Lots of things are different with the new boss. We're looking for certainties that we can build solid foundations on – and first that means not conceding goals. We have to work on certain movements and once you're on the same page it's easier not to concede. The formation doesn't matter much: it's the movements within a specific formation. You can defend with ten men but if your movement is off, you can still concede.”
Padelli also feels Udinese's plight has little to do with Kosta Runjaic.
“We got 94 points in two years with Runjaic and that doesn't happen by chance. He has a lot of qualities as a coach. However, all good things come to an end. I don't know what went wrong. Something changed after the Lazio game. Things started to happen that were quite shocking, like the goal against Cagliari, and after that your confidence starts to go. It's not about the coach – he kept doing what he was doing before. It's up to the players to take the coach's ideas onto the pitch. Now we need to stick together and stay positive. We must forget about why things have happened and start over with new methods, new ideas and fresh energy. That's the only thing we can do.”