Lazio – Juve
By: salvatore | April 25th, 2008The Biancoceleste take their stuttering, seemingly never-ending, season to Torino this Sunday to face Juve, and if reports are to be believed, there may be more interesting things happening off-field than on.
At the heart of any transfer talk is Stendardo, who has made it clear he’s not looking forward to coming back (good riddance). So, instead of forking over the amount he costs, it seems that Juve might be more comfortable just handing over one (or two) of their young jewels.
The first among them is midfielder Claudio Marchisio, who aside from being very promising, has also been linked to us in the past. Nothing really new there, especially since I doubt this will happen. What is new though is Lazio being linked with one Davide Lanzafame.
I’m not one to get worked up over youtube compilations, but I’ve read about this guy before, and it’s hard not to get excited about someone who’s most often described as “explosive”.
On the field, things are looking way, way more disgusting. Ousmane Dabo, Luciano Zauri and Cristian Ledesma are all suspended, and Valon Behrami, Igli Tare and um, Mobido Diakhite (remember him?) are sidelined by injury. Adding to this misery is the fact that Rocchi is doubtful. Oh, and Rolando Whitey and Goran Pandev are apparently less than 100%.
What else can you say? Essentially, the B-team is facing Juve this weekend, and unless Behrami makes a miracle recovery, we’re looking at a midfield of Roberto Baronio (in Ledesma’s central role), Mofo Mutarelli and Gaby Mudingayi.
I don’t know, I’m not confident. Especially since it’s likely we’ll see Mauri at some point too (double sigh).
Probable Formations:
Lazio: Ballotta; De Silvestri, Siviglia, Cribari, Kolarov; Mudingayi, Baronio, Mutarelli; Mauri; Pandev, Bianchi
Juventus: Buffon; Zebina, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro; Camoranesi, Sissoko, Zanetti, Nedved; Trezeguet, Del Piero
Likelihood Lazio blows it: 70%
Likelihood we continue our imitation of Torino FC and tie again: 45%
Likelihood the “B” team plays better than the “A”: 15%
Here’s what happened the last time these teams met:
Forza Lazio.
Some Related Lazio Posts:
Category: Team News
Comments
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2 Pandev’s… YAY!!!
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woops, thanks Wajid.
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I’d like Stendardo, I don’t know why you hate him, but he’s a very good center back. I wish he was in our starting XI and move Chiellini to left-back again. That said, if it costs our young players who post-Calciopoli are our future….I think not. We’ll give you Lanzafame on loan…but not permanently.
In all seriousness, it seems Marchisio is going to be back with us next year, which is good because he has been solid for Empoli. Why buy Tiagos when you can grow Marchisios, eh?
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[...] After my 2nd attempt to write a preview for the game failed, I said screw it, I’ll live blog it. Check out Salvatore’s preview over at the Lazio Offside. [...]
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I don’t really hate Stendardo, I also think he’s a solid player. The problem is that he was the source of a lot of infighting and locker room unrest pre-January. Basically, he wanted out, and that’s a bad element to have when your team is already struggling.
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I swear, Stendaro will become a second Carnavaro, sending him back to lazio’s a great loss tp the old lady.
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I tried to write a preview twice, which failed twice, thanks (mostly) to my stupidity. But the two main points of it were- I don’t hate Lazio, unlike almost all Serie A teams. (We got Stendardo and Pavel Nedved from you. From Roma? Zebina and Emerson.) The second, and more important, was that I couldn’t see anything other than a victory today for Juve. With the suspensions, injuries Lazio have, not to mention the league does not matter at all, the main objective was not getting any more injuries and being ready for the Coppa. I’m hoping you guys win it and get a spot in Europe. (Given this season though, is that a good idea?)
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