Three points!

By: salvatore | February 28th, 2008

I don’t think a win has ever been so ugly and yet so vital. Rossi reshuffled the lineup (with five changes from the disaster at Cagliari) and the team managed to hold off the minnows from Reggio Calabria yesterday.

By all accounts though, it was ugly, frustrating and not very convincing (you just get the feeling that Milan is going to take a giant Kaka on us, even if Ricardo’s hurt).

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly (Morricone rules):

The Good:
1) Rolando Bianchi scored his first goal as a member of Lazio (and against his old club). It was off a penalty though, so it’s hardly inspiring. But it was definitely needed against a team playing ten men behind the ball.
2) Once again, Radu seems to be the real deal. Hopefully he’ll get more playing time as the year goes on.
3) Yesterday’s match was the first of four featuring a new shirt sponsor, Edileuropa. Apparently it’s a construction company of some kind.

The Bad:
1) Delio’s insistence on playing with a 4-3-1-2, even though it’s clearly not getting us anywhere. What ever happened to a simple 4-4-2? Or god forbid, a 4-3-3? After all, couldn’t it be possible that Zeman is just a bit right?
2) The defending. If Reggina wasn’t shooting blanks, this could have been a loss. A very very disgusting loss.
3) Rozehnal failed to make an appearance (again), and is already making noise about being unhappy. I can’t really blame him either, considering how porous the back line looked.

The Ugly:
1) Rocchi’s late miss on a great setup from Pandev. Merda’s draw against South American giants Inter Merda is an example of what happens when you can’t close a game you’re dominating. In the position we are in the standings, this miss could have really killed us had Reggina managed to tie it up.
2) Siviglia’s tussle with Makinwa. Siviglia knows that Makinwa still belongs to us right?

It’s hard to quibble with a victory, but the game yesterday destroyed any illusions about sneaking into a Uefa Cup spot. We’re in a relegation battle now, and performances like the last two games are just not going to cut it. A quick look at the schedule tells you everything you need to know. In the next six weeks, Lazio will be playing Milan, Udinese, Merda, Fiorentina and Inter. If we manage to not lose all of those, I’ll be impressed…and that’s just fucking pathetic.

Here are the lowlights from yesterday:

Meanwhile, the hunt for Delio’s supposed predecessor is continuing in the press, with a new name being thrown in: Sampdoria’s Walter Mazzarri.

According to Calciomercato, it seems that Lazio would have to fight off Napoli for his services, which is odd considering there was a report last week saying that Napoli wanted Delio Rossi for next season. Why Mazzari would leave Samp, I’m not sure, but considering that Rimini’s Leonardo Acori is acting like he’s never heard of Lazio (despite the claims that he was next in line for the coaching job), I guess you have to take all of these reports with a meteorite of salt.

Just for the hell of it, I’m going to throw another name in (if other sources can invent stuff, I will too): Totò

I think with him behind the bench Lazio would be able to outsmart all the bigger clubs that come their way. Maybe he’d even manage to outwit Lotito (vattene) out of the presidential position. Plus, what kind of fan would want to protest Totò?

p.s. We’re in trouble.