Buffon
Licht - Bonucci - Barzagli - Chiellini
Marchisio - Pirlo - Vidal
Pepe - Matri - Estiga
This won't be like Napoli for Pirlo, he won't have Hamsik on his ass because Udinese simply don't use a man in Pirlo's zone. If they try to close him, then it'll probably be with Kwadwo and Isla (+Di Natale) and that'll open tons of space for Marchisio and Vidal (we didn't have Marchisio in Napoli, don't forget about that). Curiously, with that team above we'd have more hardworkers on the field than them. The problem would be the goals, so Pirlo (in our build up), Marchisio and mainly Matri would have to be inspired for the game.
That's Chiellini lol, he's great at reading the game and by far our best defender in that chapter.
An interesting "team defense" would be putting Bonucci as a sweeper, but then he'd have bunches of 1x1 too. IMO, we should just use Chiellini like we did against Milan, with him in our half of the pitch most of the times to cover the expectable counters. By the way, our defense is looking more and more solid week in and week out. The last two or three games, it was always our strong point.
Licht - Bonucci - Barzagli - Chiellini
Marchisio - Pirlo - Vidal
Pepe - Matri - Estiga
This won't be like Napoli for Pirlo, he won't have Hamsik on his ass because Udinese simply don't use a man in Pirlo's zone. If they try to close him, then it'll probably be with Kwadwo and Isla (+Di Natale) and that'll open tons of space for Marchisio and Vidal (we didn't have Marchisio in Napoli, don't forget about that). Curiously, with that team above we'd have more hardworkers on the field than them. The problem would be the goals, so Pirlo (in our build up), Marchisio and mainly Matri would have to be inspired for the game.
I'm not looking forward to Chiellini covering Di Natale. He's just not the man for stopping these kind of strikers 
We'll need a team defense on him and lots of successful offside traps.

We'll need a team defense on him and lots of successful offside traps.
We'll need whoever has the best anticipation to take the main responsibility for Di Natale, but it will still have to be a team defense on him.
The man scored 60 goals in less than two and a half season. By far the best striker in serie A lately and together with Zlatan, the striker defenders find the hardest to stop. But while Zlatan can be stopped with aggressiveness, you can't stop Udinese's Di Natale that way. He can be stopped with brains rather than with muscles.
Shame we have so little time for Conte to prepare the defense. I'm sure that he'd have thought of something.
The man scored 60 goals in less than two and a half season. By far the best striker in serie A lately and together with Zlatan, the striker defenders find the hardest to stop. But while Zlatan can be stopped with aggressiveness, you can't stop Udinese's Di Natale that way. He can be stopped with brains rather than with muscles.
Shame we have so little time for Conte to prepare the defense. I'm sure that he'd have thought of something.
An interesting "team defense" would be putting Bonucci as a sweeper, but then he'd have bunches of 1x1 too. IMO, we should just use Chiellini like we did against Milan, with him in our half of the pitch most of the times to cover the expectable counters. By the way, our defense is looking more and more solid week in and week out. The last two or three games, it was always our strong point.
