Runjaic Faces Double Injury Blow as Lazio Defeats Udinese
Udinese walked off the Stadio Friuli pitch feeling they had been punished twice: once by Lazio’s comeback, and again by the injuries that ripped up Kosta Runjaic’s game plan before half-time.
Jesper Karlstrom had given the hosts a dream start to the second half, striking first to put Udinese 1-0 up and ignite the home crowd. For a brief spell, it looked like the afternoon might belong to them.
Then the match turned.
Davide Frattesi dragged Lazio level, and Albert Gudmundsson completed the turnaround for Gennaro Gattuso’s side, sealing a 2-1 win that underlined the visitors’ status as favourites – a label Runjaic himself acknowledged.
The Udinese coach pointed straight at the first-half chaos that left him with a bench hamstrung and a team running on fumes.
“We lost Piotrowski and Solet and we paid a heavy price for those two changes, as we lost two substitution slots, so I had doubts,” Runjaic told DAZN, via TuttoMercatoWeb.
Those early enforced changes not only robbed him of two starters, they also stripped him of flexibility for the final stretch, when Lazio’s quality began to bite.
From the touchline, he watched Lazio grow into the game.
“Lazio played well, they are a strong team and they have bought strong players. They started as favourites,” he admitted. “We could have taken a point, but they certainly deserved to score at least one goal.”
On the pitch, the duels told their own story. Davide Frattesi battled with Enzo Ebosse in midfield skirmishes that framed the contest, the Lazio man eventually stamping his mark on the scoreboard as well as the game.
Davis decision and thin attacking options
The problems for Udinese did not stop with Piotrowski and Oumar Solet. In the second half, Runjaic made another call that underlined his sense of risk management on a night when his resources were stretched.
Keinan Davis, the focal point of Udinese’s attack, was withdrawn as his side struggled to keep the ball and chase an equaliser.
“Both teams were tired, but we have to respect their qualities and we weren’t able to have the possession we wanted,” Runjaic said. “I didn’t want to risk Davis and the changes in the first half affected us.”
That single line revealed another issue: Udinese’s lack of a like-for-like replacement up front. Runjaic did not hide from it. Without a natural alternative to Davis, every minute the striker spends on the pitch comes with a calculation attached, especially in a match already warped by injuries.
James Abankwah, a summer signing, was cited as part of the longer-term solution, but not yet the present one.
“Abankwah still has to adapt to the pace of Serie A and, in terms of the changes, Lazio were superior,” Runjaic conceded.
On a night when Lazio’s depth and experience told, Udinese were left counting not just the cost of defeat, but the toll on a squad that already looks one or two injuries away from real trouble.
