Supercoppa Italiana 2009: Inter – Lazio

By: cathal | August 7th, 2009

I never thought the day would come. After months of anticipation, months of agonising, months of waiting, months of speculation and most of all, months of boredom, the curtain-raiser to the Italian season is now upon us and ready to be lifted in style, in Beijing. In my head, I’ve been writing previews on non-existent games for weeks and now that the time has finally come, I am short on words.

I will draw your attention to an observation I made earlier today. Almost a year ago, I began writing on this blog and one of my first posts was last year’s season opener; a Coppa Italia fixture against lowly Benevento. I know it’s all too easy to say this now but that day, I was confident that it would be the first step on a remarkable journey and that we would go a ‘couple of steps further’ than the previous year. The potential in the side was clear back then but in stark contrast to this time last year, we are in a period of significant doubt and hours away from another piece of silverware or a natural disappointment. The preparation has been poor; I’m not sure if anyone can deny that but I do believe, in time, more progress will be made under the new regime. A victory tomorrow would be the ultimate boost.

As for the starting line-up, your guess is as good as mine or Lalaziosiamonoi’s for that matter but here’s the squad they predict:

Lazio (4-4-2): Muslera, Kolarov, Siviglia, Diakite’, Lichtsteiner, Dabo, Matuzalem, Brocchi, Foggia, Zarate, Rocchi.

I think what we should look to do this season is play Zarate to the left and Foggia to the right of the main frontman. I can’t see how the players listed above can play in a 4-4-2 and I don’t believe Pasquale will play as a trequartista. I think Dabo, Matuzalem and Brocchi form a formidable and balanced trio in midfield. This would put pressure on Kolarov and Lichtsteiner but I’d rather we did that then let Eto’o and Milito terrorise our central defenders. I expect Diakite’ will play but I’m not convinced we will see Siviglia alongside him. The tactic we deploy is key; in the absence of Ledesma I do believe a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 is our best option but let’s see what Ballardini opts for. As for Inter, I am not the person to ask, I barely know what to expect from ourselves tomorrow but I believe a preview is on the way over on their Offside so if you’re Inter-ested (terrible, I know), then pop over.

I’ll post a stream in the comments box as soon as I find one but believe it or not, I may be forced into missing the game. That is a gutwrenching prospect but luckily Franco will be on hand to fill you in with a review of the game once the result is known. All that remains for me to say is Forza Lazio! and may the best team win tomorrow. Which will be us I hope. Forza Lazio!