Udinese coach Kosta Runjaic has criticised a costly defensive misunderstanding between Nigerian goalkeeper Maduka Okoye and centre-back Nicolò Bertola after their 2-1 defeat to Torino in Serie A on Monday night.
The decisive moment came in the 67th minute at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, when poor communication between Okoye and Bertola allowed substitute Sandro Kulenović to score into an unguarded net.
Runjaic believes the error cost his team a valuable point, insisting that Udinese’s overall performance did not warrant defeat.
“Without that error between Bertola and Okoye, the match would probably have ended in a draw,” the German coach told DAZN.
“We lost because of a big mistake. It was a lack of communication and perception, and with mistakes like these you end up losing games.”
Udinese had shown resilience earlier in the contest, with Jürgen Ekkelenkamp scoring an equaliser in the first half to keep the visitors competitive.
However, the defensive lapse proved decisive as Torino secured all three points, deepening Udinese’s difficult start to the league campaign.
The result extended Udinese’s losing run to four consecutive Serie A matches, leaving them with just four points from six games and increasing pressure on the team to improve.
Runjaic acknowledged the need for his players to eliminate individual mistakes, warning that such lapses could continue to undermine their efforts despite otherwise encouraging passages of play.
Okoye, who has been Udinese’s first-choice goalkeeper, will now be looking to recover from the costly incident as the team attempts to halt its slide and regain confidence in the coming fixtures.
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