A tally of just 13 points from nine games marked Atalanta’s slowest start to a league campaign since 2018/19, but a match-up against the division’s joint-leakiest defence provided an opportunity for Juric’s side to build some momentum.
Nonetheless, there was just one point separating the two sides at kick-off - a statistic that translated to an evenly-matched opening period, in which neither side was able to establish a foothold.
With a quarter of an hour played, Udinese began to produce some attacking threat through Nicolo Zaniolo, whose speculative strike from range was easily dealt with by Marco Carnesecchi, shortly before Arthur Atta dragged an effort wide from the edge of the box.
Those half-chances brought a response from the visitors, who briefly thought they’d broken the deadlock after 24 minutes, only for Kamaldeen Sulemana’s controlled side-foot volley from Davide Zappacosta’s cross to be disallowed for an offside in the build-up.
That moment appeared to serve as a wake-up call for Udinese, who looked the far more likely to open the scoring, despite seeing less of the ball.
And that proved to be the case five minutes from half-time, as Hassane Kamara pulled the ball to the penalty spot, where an unmarked Zaniolo swept home his third goal in four games.
A fingertip save from Carnesecchi kept out Jesper Karlstrom’s long-range shot just before the break, offering the visitors some encouragement as they began the second period on the offensive.
Despite an upturn in performance, Atalanta were struggling to carve out clear-cut opportunities, and with just one win in five competitive games (D3, L1) heading into this one, things were beginning to look bleak as time ticked away.
The introduction of Ademola Lookman did little to change their fortunes, with Raoul Bellanova seeing his volley from a partially cleared corner pushed to safety, as Le Zebrette ultimately held firm to secure all three points.
Defeat is not the way in which Juric will have wanted to end Atalanta’s five-game drawing streak, with this result marking their first loss in 16 meetings with Udinese (W9, D6).
As a result, La Dea have slipped to 11th, and behind their victorious hosts, who have now lost just one of their last four league games as they move up to eighth.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nicolo Zaniolo (Udinese)