Udinese vs Como: Post-match analysis
Right, so. A Sunday morning in Udine, the Bluenergy Stadium, two sides who could not be further apart in the table... and they play out a 0-0. Scoreless. Nil-nil. The full goalless experience. Look, s
Right, so. A Sunday morning in Udine, the Bluenergy Stadium, two sides who could not be further apart in the table... and they play out a 0-0. Scoreless. Nil-nil. The full goalless experience. Look, sometimes football does this to you. You sit down expecting fireworks and you get a staring contest. Kosta RunjaiΔ's Udinese hosting Cesc FΓ bregas's Como, fifth versus tenth, 58 points versus 43, and neither side could find the net. Madness. Absolute madness. Let's get into it.
The Bigger Picture: Two Very Different Seasons Colliding
Honestly, when you look at where these two clubs are this season, you expect Como to just... roll over teams like Udinese. They came into this one sitting fifth in Serie A with 58 points from 32 games. Sixteen wins, ten draws, only six defeats. Goal difference of plus 30. Plus 30! They have scored 56 and conceded only 26 all season. That is a proper European-chasing side. FΓ bregas has built something genuinely exciting in his first full campaign.
And then there is Udinese. Sitting tenth. Forty-three points, twelve wins, seven draws, thirteen losses. Goal difference of minus 4. They have been solid enough to not worry about the drop but not good enough to dream of Europe. A mid-table side doing mid-table things. But here is the thing about mid-table sides at home... they can be absolutely horrible to beat. And today? Today they were exactly that.
| Como - League Position | 5th |
| Como - Points | 58 from 32 games |
| Como - Goals Scored | 56 |
| Como - Goals Conceded | 26 |
| Como - Goal Difference | +30 |
| Udinese - League Position | 10th |
| Udinese - Points | 43 from 32 games |
| Udinese - Goals Scored | 38 |
| Udinese - Goals Conceded | 42 |
| Udinese - Goal Difference | -4 |
Udinese at Home: Fortress? Not Exactly... But Not Easy Either
Look, I am not going to dress Udinese's home record up as something it is not. Five wins, five draws, six defeats in 16 home games. They have scored 16 and conceded 19 at the Bluenergy Stadium this season. That is... not a fortress. That is more like a house with a dodgy lock. And yet. They sit here with a point against a Como side that has been flying. Sometimes the table does not tell the whole story of an afternoon.
RunjaiΔ has been in charge since June 2024 and he has clearly drilled some defensive discipline into this side. You do not keep a clean sheet against a team who have scored 56 goals this season by accident. Whatever Udinese set up today, it worked. Credit where it is due.
| Home Played | 16 |
| Home W-D-L | 5-5-6 |
| Home Goals Scored | 16 |
| Home Goals Conceded | 19 |
| Recent Form (Last 5) | W-D-W-L-D |
Como Away: Usually Brilliant, Today Frustrated
Here is where it gets interesting. Como on the road this season have been genuinely brilliant. Seven wins, five draws, three defeats in 15 away games. They have scored 22 away goals and conceded only 11. Eleven! That away defensive record is sensational. And their form coming into this one was LDWWW. Three wins on the spin before today. The vibes were good. The momentum was there.
And then... nothing. Nil. Zero. Look, I reckon this is one of those games where Udinese just made themselves genuinely unpleasant to play against, sat deep, stayed compact, and Como could not find the key. It happens. Even the best attacks in a division run into a wall now and then. FΓ bregas will be frustrated, no question, but a point on the road is not a disaster. It just feels like one when you have been on a run.
| Away Played | 15 |
| Away W-D-L | 7-5-3 |
| Away Goals Scored | 22 |
| Away Goals Conceded | 11 |
| Recent Form (Last 5) | L-D-W-W-W |
The Set Piece Story... And It Is a Telling One
Right, this is the bit that actually jumped out at me when I looked at the numbers before this game. Udinese average just 1 corner per game this season. One! That is... genuinely one of the lowest you will see anywhere in European football. Meanwhile Como are averaging 7 corners per game. Seven. The gap between these two sides in terms of attacking threat and territory is staggering, and the corner stats kind of tell that whole story in two numbers.
I actually looked at the numbers for once and thought to myself, this is a game where Como dominate possession, dominate territory, pile into the Udinese box, win corner after corner... and Udinese somehow nick a clean sheet. Which is almost exactly what happened, just without the nicking a goal part. The numbers set the scene perfectly. The Udinese gameplan was always going to be about limiting, restricting, and hoping to catch Como on the break. Today the first bit worked brilliantly. The second bit never came off.
| Udinese Corners Per Game | 1 |
| Como Corners Per Game | 7 |
What Does This Mean Going Forward?
For Udinese, honestly? This is a decent point. They are sitting tenth with 43 points and the season is winding down. They are not in a relegation fight, they are not in a European race. A point against a top-five side at home with a clean sheet... RunjaiΔ takes that all day long. Their overall record of 12 wins, 7 draws and 13 losses is the very definition of a team that is exactly where the numbers say they should be. Comfortable. Unremarkable. Surviving. And sometimes that is absolutely fine.
For Como though... look at the fixtures. They are fifth with 58 points and a goal difference of plus 30. They are in a European conversation. They absolutely cannot afford too many more afternoons where that attacking quality just does not show up. The gap between their goals scored, 56, and their goals conceded, 26, shows how dominant they have been this season. But today reminded everyone that no side is unstoppable. Not even one managed by FΓ bregas, who has genuinely impressed me this year, don't @ me.
The Como form of LDWWW means this draw ends that three-game winning run. They will want to bounce back sharpish. Udinese meanwhile go WDWLD... and now add a D. So they have won two of their last five, which is fine for where they are. Neither side is in crisis. This was just one of those Sundays where football decided to give you absolutely nothing and you had to be okay with it. Scenes... or the complete absence of scenes, more accurately.
| Udinese | 0 |
| Como | 0 |
| Referee | Fabio Maresca |
Jay's Verdict
Udinese did a proper defensive job here and earned their point. RunjaiΔ had his side organised and hard to break down, and against a Como attack that has been one of the best in Serie A this season, that is not nothing. But let's be real... for the neutral this was a tough watch. Two sides, one averaging 1 corner per game and one averaging 7, and somehow the team with more threat could not convert that dominance into a single goal.
Como are still fifth. Still with 58 points. Still with that incredible goal difference of plus 30. One dropped point is not going to derail what FΓ bregas has built. But in a tight European race, every single point matters. They will know that. This one will sting a little. Back to the drawing board for my acca though... had Como to win and I will say no more about it.