The magic number

By: salvatore | November 9th, 2008

Looking just at the score, you wouldn’t think today’s 3-0 victory against Siena was a frustrating, difficult struggle, but that’s exactly what it was. In fact, I don’t know how else to write this without sounding like a bit of a broken record. But for the umpteenth time this season, this was a tale of two halves.

What kicked it all off was Delio’s decision to start with a ridiculous five man midfield, a formation that seemed to actually discourage the Aquile from moving forward and putting anything creative together.
Most affected by the formation was Ledesma, who played a strong game, but was practically chain cuffed when it came to doing anything creative. Making matters worse was the continuously underwhelming play of Mauri and Dabo, and a Mourad Meghni that looked out of sorts and out of form for the second straight game (yes, yes, I know, he’s coming off an injury. He still looked awful out there for long stretches.).

The result from all this was an isolated Zarate, and worse, a backline put under pressure for a good part of the first half. Not the kind of stuff you want to see, especially with Siviglia continuing to look shaky in the center of the D. Lichsteiner was a monster again, but he can’t do everything by himself…someone needs to anchor that line, and Sebastiano is not the guy. There’s either going to have to be some transfer action in January, or someone else (Diakite?) should get a shot.

On the bright side of this early pressure was seeing the way Juan Pablo Carrizo stood up to it. He might not be quite at the level he was at in Argentina last year, but this was, in my opinion, the most confident and solid we’ve seen him in a Biancoceleste shirt so far. If he can continue to adjust and rediscover that River Plate form again, we’ll have a real monster between the sticks.

So what happened for it to end up such an emphatic win? Partially the brilliance of The Zarate Kid, but mostly the introduction of Tommaso Rocchi. Balboa seemed to inject the entire team with a fighting spirit that had been missing for most of the first half, and everything picked up from there. Foggia suddenly came alive, and Zarate was, as always, a constant danger.

First, he ended his five-game goal drought (strange but true) with a brilliant free kick, and then he set up Rocchi’s first with a burst of speed on the wing and a great pass to the center of the net. He, and by extension the rest of the team, was brilliant in the second half, and it was another display that seemed to scream for the ZA-PA-RO trident to finally get a start.

Hopefully, we’ll get to see them take a big fat crap on relegation battling minnows Rioma Merda on Sunday. Forza Lazio!

Here’s the Curva Nord’s view of Maurito’s freekick: