Back on the right path
By: Pepe | February 23rd, 2011With two wins on the trot and a couple of favourable results with most of the teams around us Lazio are back on the right path. A convincing win away to Brescia followed by a regulation home win against Bari is the exact return we should have been looking for from these two matches.
Without creating too much we dominated possession and the play in an away match and I was personally very pleased to see Gonzalez rewarded for his efforts with his debut goal in Serie A and to see Kozák continue his personal good form with a fine towering header to seal the win.
Unfortunately due to a bit of moving and then losing my internet I was not able to see the match against Bari but by all accounts we should have scored a fair few more but as I missed the game I was just happy to see three points. Hernanes scored a fine finish and I think it’s just what he needed after his miserable Brazil experience.
With the League table reading Milan 55; Napoli 52, Inter 50; Lazio 48; Udinese 44 it is clear that our Champions League ambitions are alive and well even if the squad are, perhaps rightly, trying to underplay our chances. It would seem that the title is a long gone dream but to use a cliché, football is a funny old game and you never know what can happen; if Milan do collapse it’s unlikely to be left to us to pick up the pieces but if we can stay in the pack anything can happen.
With Cagliari beating all the teams around and below them (Bari 2-1; Sampdoria 1-0; Chievo 4-1) and only losing to the top 6 teams (Juventus 1-3; Inter 0-1; Rioma 0-3) we have to remind them why we’re up there with a professional win. They’re still missing Matri and we have an opportunity to play them when they may still be figuring out a new system. They are certainly no spent force attack wise despite the loss, they still have nose for a goal Bobby Freshwater (Acquafresca), Nenê has a decent eye for goal (hat-trick against Catania in December and 2nd highest goalscorer for Cagliari last season with eight) and a rounded technical game and Cossu was one injury away from going to the World Cup in the summer (although with 2010 Lippi, that doesn’t count for much), he’s their trequartista and a fine one too. Mix that with the spirit and defensive qualities of Biondini, Astori, Canini and the all-round game of Lazzari in midfield and you have an outfit that merit their top 10 standing this season. If you’re wondering why you see white handkerchiefs flying at the game, there is a fan protest due to the very poor refereeing they’ve been subject to recently (notably Inter’s goal at the weekend) so let’s hope the refs don’t make us pay for their misfortune.
We will unfortunately definitely be missing Fernando Muslera for our next two games (Cagliari and Palermo) with an ankle problem which will mean Berni stepping up. I can’t decide if I rate this guy really although he wasn’t great during the Coppa Italia derby. Nevertheless he will be between the sticks so let’s hope he can step up. Nando is pencilled in to be back in the time for the derby (13/03) so fingers crossed. In other injury news, it doesn’t look like Mauri will be back for the trip to Sardegna and as he still not training with the first team I don’t know how likely a return for the Palermo game will be. However we perform I believe we miss him and on a personal level he needs to play to cement a role in the Nazionale, one he deserves. Diakité and Rocchi are still not training with the first team, but Mobido is expected back next week. Dias hasn’t been training this week but he is still expected to be fit in time for the weekend but if not Reja has been experimenting with Radu in the middle and Garrido on the left. Yes, Garrido on the left, does that mean he’s fit, who knows?
In case you wondered what Javier looks like.
As far as the rest of the team is concerned, I’m pleased to see that the Matuzalém – Ledesma partnership will remain, Hernanes in front of them and Gonzalez working the right flank. Here’s where it gets interesting however, we finally have a selection headache with our forward options. Reja seems to prefer Sculli to Zárate for the moment which certainly is a nice choice to make and they both certainly bring different things to the table. Up front the dilemma is the protégé Kozák vs. the newly fit experienced playmaker forward Floccari. If Reja sticks with what’s working (and scoring) and plays Libor then I think Sculli will complement him nicely; if he goes with Sergio however I do believe Zárate to be a better foil for his clever runs and touches.
A quick update on the Primavera. You may have seen a disastrous result for our kids losing the derby 7-1. You unfortunately did read that correctly; after going in at half-time 3-0 down, Tommaso Ceccarelli injected some hope with a goal but then the team capitulated horribly and conceded another 4 with nothing positive to take home from the game apart from our goal, which does lead us to the Torneo Viareggio. We have started this tournament very positively, opening with a 4-3 win against Grasshoppers of Switzerland and a notable hat-trick for our talentino Tommaso who seems to be confirming his stature at junior level. This good result was followed up by a better one against the youth team of Anderlecht who, as anyone who follows Belgian football will know, have a very good youth academy. They were soundly beaten 3-0 by our kids, with another goal for Ceccarelli, one for Nigerian midfielder Onazi and one for the striker Di Mario. The last match will see Lazio facing Torino where a draw will guarantee qualification as group winners.
In very brief transfer news, reports in Germany suggest that Lotito is sniffing around Hamburg’s Ruud van Nistelrooy, trying to bag him in a Julio Cruz style free next summer. No idea how much truth is in that one but I do like the idea. In a slightly more probable hypothesis, it is suggested that if we make it the golden land of the Champion’s League, we will buy Porto’s Uruguayan Jorge Fucile who will give us the quality in depth we would need at both fullback positions for such a campaign.
Finally, to those who wish to write on the blog; as you may have noticed (ahem) I do not post as regularly as I or you I’m sure would like. I need a hand. http://www.theoffside.com/bloggers is where to apply, please apply all who wish to contribute.
Cagliari Calcio vs. S.S. Lazio
Stadio Sant’Elia
Sunday 27 February
Forza Lazio!
Some Related Lazio Posts:
Category: Team News
Comments
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Jeez I think Amauri would have been good for us.
But Juve wouldn’t have allowed him to come to a competitor I am sure.
Nor would some of my friends on this blog.
But you can’t deny when his confidence is up, he is awesome.
Poor Roma.
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just seen the highlights,and we were unlucky not to at least get a point,hope floccari is back for sundays game,when is edy going to see sense and drop ledesma,make matuzalem captain,he is the only true leader in the team,as for kozac,am not so sure that he is up to the task.3 points v palermo is a must if we are to get a top 4 spot.
forza lazio -
Palermo got destroyed 7-0 at the weekend, and today fired Delio Rossi, so now is a good time to play them I think
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grant, dude, I doubt making matuzalem vice-ledesma (further-more captain) would make our situation better. if ledesma in ten matches has two wrong, matuzalem does wrong(or nothing in) the other eight matches. I liked that guy only in the supercoppa match, where, let’s face it, he was lucky to be there…and his face as well.
kozak wasn’t the kind of player we needed against cagliari in the very beginning. rocchi or floccari would’ve been just great against them. but rocchi wasn’t available, much to our misfortune. we needed people that could create spaces against them, smth we didn’t have. sculli is just a new toy that reja wants to use before it gets broken, but is used very badly. hell, I’d only put him on a 3-4-1-2 as left wing, at least he can do that right. and I know some people hate me, so forgive me in precedence if the following statement will hurt: we need muslera back, cuz berni ain’t decisive enough, and that was obvious ever since the derby in coppa italia at simplicio’s goal.btw, delio rossi got sacked after the humiliating 0-7 loss to leave place to serse cosmi. yes, the livorno coach! the one who plays with the 5-3-2.
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Yeah its important we get Muslera back for the Derby. It inspires the whole team when there is a goalkeeper you can rely on at the back.
Berni is good, but hes not Muslera, which is why he isnt first choice. Dont get me wrong, hes young and hell improve, but hes not the solid, dependable man Nestor is.
Looks like hell be back for the Derby, but will definitely miss the Palermo game.But as I say, I believe now is a good time to play Palermo, coming off a heavy defeat is going to be tough for their players, and it always takes a few games to adjust to a new coach.
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AQUILE,LEDESMA IS SHIT FULL STOP,HE LACKS EFFORT AND TOO MANY PASSES GO TO THE OPOSITION,MATUZALEM HAS SHOWN THAT HE IS A TRUE LEADER,HOPEFULLY WE WILL BUY SOMEONE IN THE SUMMER TIME TO PLAY ALONGSIDE HIM AND SELL LEDESMA,BUT I DOUBT ANYBODY WOULD WANT HIM.
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Wow
Some serious shit being thrown at Ledesma here.
He definitely ain’t shit. I can’t say that however about some of the comments being made. To class Matuzalem as a ‘leader’ is way off the mark. He is a solid tackling, running midfielder with a nice creative spark and good feet too. However he is hot tempered, and not a captain of any team….ever. Leader’s are level headed, experienced, lead by example, and have an influence on their colleagues. Potential leaders include: Brocchi, Mauri, Rocchi. Ledesma would be a better captain than Matuzalem.I think we are mistaking labelling a damn good player as a leader. They don’t necessarily match.
As for Ledesma being off form – i would say he is playing at 60%. Give him a chance and he will recapture the form. And none of the stuff about ‘we don’t have time to give him a chance’ – the fact is, he cannot be blamed solely for our current problems (minor though i think they are).
Forza the ladz.
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omar,sorry to say but your wrong,when you look at matuzalem during games he is the only one shouting at other players,telling them what they are doing wrong,also i remember when hernanes scored the penalty v roma in the coppa italia,he grabbed hernanes by the arm and took him over to the curva nord to make sure he respects the curva nord,no other player did that,ledesma is too quite and hides from games sometimes,and to say he is playing 60% is total bollocks.
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well, matuzalem may send even his mother under the curva, for all I care. the important thing is playing right…and let me tell it, both of them got their mistakes, where matuzalem wins(by number of mistakes, I mean). that guy is able to get sent off by a rate of two to five matches a year, if fully employed. ledesma lost the love for his shirt(and who’d blame him, after what lotito did to him?)thus he plays at 60%. the best for our central midfield is either to give ledesma a new partner(which I already see smth in perpetuini or hernanes) or create a whole new pair of central midfielders, that would require more expenses in the behalf of the team. a while ago, they talked about lorik cana approaching our team. I know that guy personally, he’s a phenomena. the ones who followed him with olimpique marseille know what I mean. he can be employed both as midfielder and defender and can give his heart for his team. whatever the sum, lazio must get that guy. much to the dismay of the ones who support matuzalem, if cana comes he’ll make matu sit on the bench season-long. oh yeah, and he’s the captain of our national team.
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Grant – matuzalem and hernanes are brazilian mates. taking your buddy over to the curva nord is no criterion to make you the captain of a football team jesus christ.
If you are so damn intuitive, then why the heck hasn’t matuzalem not been a captain in his 30 some years of age?
Are you telling me that you are more knowledgeable of the Lazio dressing room than Delio Rossi and Ballardini, and Reja? Holy smoke, let’s focus are comments on quality of footballer and let our manager decide who should captain the team. Matuzalem is too petty and hot-tempered to be a captain. Full stop.And people covered in tattoos generally do not get picked to be captains.
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Whilst I agree Matu isnt captain material, the fact that he has tattoos has nothing to do with it at all, and to suggest that having tattoos makes you any less worthy of a position such as captain, is nothing short of ridiculous.
A captain, as was said earlier, is someone who can inspire those around him, whilst keeping a level head, and taking control on the field. Whether or not he chooses to get a tattoo, is completely irrelevant.
My 2 cents on the captaincy, Rocchi, Mauri, Lichsteiner, Biava, Brocchi, maybe even Muslera although hes a bit young.
Ideally someone who is going to start most games, and with a bit of experience, so Mauri is perfect when he is back, which should be next week. -
kozak wasn’t the kind of player we needed against cagliari in the very beginning. rocchi or floccari would’ve been just great against them.
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thanks, you lines thief.
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It was more a statement of fact than opinion. Tattoos seem to put manager’s off choosing as captain, and somewhat reflect a personality and degree of professionalism – or lack of thereof. Similar to nose rings and long hair (for men) and trousers worn round your knees – not seen in the professional sector or in leaders generally.
This could open up a debate on tattooed footballers….now that would be interesting. Viz. Materazzi.
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Perhaps 20 years ago when tattoos were seen as taboo, or as something only worn by thugs.
In the 21st century, nobody gives a crap. -
Prime example is David Beckham. More ink than skin, yet captained his country admireably at the highest level.
Or Paulo Cannavaro. Materazzi. Totti. List could go on.
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Now David Beckham. That is an excellent example of a leader, and a great professional. And also of someone who somewhere in his early 20s, changed himself from a fairly disliked, hot tempered, fella, to a top top guy, liked by all his peers professionally wherever he went.
We don’t have a leader of that quality. The closest i think we get to a leader is Brocchi. He would be my first pick, in the current absence of Rocchi.
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Well, well, well…..perhaps Reja is reading our blog.
It looks like Reja will give Zarate a go in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Maurito has been training strongly all week and the intention is to let him start from inception.
I do not like the possibility of playing Sculli on the right hand side along with Hernanes in the middle, but I guess Reja wants to have some midfield cover (vs Gonzales who may be more forward thinking).
Floccari will spearhead the attack and create plenty of space for the attacking midfielders. Zarate has played his better games playing off of Floccari (Rocchi also is a good tandem with Maurito but injury rules this option out).
Palermo is a wounded but proud animal. We will see how they react.
Forza lazio, Non Mollare Mai!!
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4-2-3-1? is that really gonna work anymore? I heard once that they train the players and midfield and defense. the defense is left to giovanni lopez and the midfield to reja. I forgot to mention that reja also trains the forwards. no wonder we’ve scored so much(not). he may be a good midfield coach(and let’s face it, since ballardini left, our midfield did a jump of quality) but we need someone who coaches the forwards. smth like the manchester united system. maybe if we applied that system in the very beginning, we wouldn’t be in the fourth place now, instead running for for the scudetto… but just maybe. and I hoe lotito doesn’t fuck things up like in the previous season. no coach change(only additions, if possible), no dissidenti case and no losing of important set pieces(god help lotito if he sells either muslera or radu). yes, that’s a this year fuck up, but got compensated with hernanes… oh yes, now I remember we should’ve brought boateng as well. well, I hope next year we do better deals. possibly cana, ziegler, miranda and a 30-goal per season forward(I say 30 considering we’ll play fifty-something matches)
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Aquila a due teste, I agree with your comment on a forward coach. I blogged this same concern a few weeks back. I even suggested Igla Tare come down from his perch and help coach the forwards. That is how desperate we are for offensive ingenuity. Alas my sarcasm aside, will we ever get the goals we need to finish in the top 4? Unfortunately now it is crunch time and with all the points droppd early in the season due to our ultra conservative “dont loose – tie first’ attitude we have no choice but to cultivate 3 points from each game against our biggest rivals for 4th place (Rioma, Udinese, Palermo, Juve, etc).
Back to my arguments on the mercato…..
We all know how poorly we did (or did not do) during the mercato. As I blogged back in January, the lack of closing the deal for Ziegler by granting Samp the extra 500k to seal the transfer will come back to haunt us time & time again. Not only did Radu go down immediately thereafter which resulted in subsequent poor results due to his replacement Scaloni’s ineffectiveness, but now we have Dias out for critical games. Had Ziegler been acquired, we could have moved Radu to center back (rather than Stendardo) and would have still fielded a strong back line. We all know how Lazo fare when one of the starting back four is out, so this weekend with hope to break that spell and show that our limited bench can indeed play up to par when it is needed.
Our mercato goals were to find three players – defender, midfielder & striker.
Results of Mercato:
Defender = 0
Midfielder = 0 (although they masquerade the breakout of Gonzales as if he is like a newly acquired player)
Striker = 0 (although they masquerade the breakout of Kozak as if he is like a newly acquired player).We have what we have for the remainder of the season. It will take every ounce of energy, injury free status, full concentration, balanced referee decisions, Muslera coming back as strong as ever and a rebirth of Zarate to make this year successful.
Thanks to all of you have have asked me to become a regular contributor to “The Offside – Lazio”. We will have to see how this may play out.
For now however – “Forza Lazio – Non Mollare Mai”
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one alternative for a forward coach, would be delio rossi. but I don’t think he’d agree that easily to such an offer…if proposed, that is. or even tare. I know him from here, he’s sort of a nerdy guy, like prandelli, he may give good directions in attack. but yet again, he wouldn’t agree such a relegation as well. on the other hand, I think everything can change if we impose ourselves to the opponents, like napoli do. that way we’d score more, and with the defensive line we have, it’s a sure recipe of success. we’d be some sort of a miniature barca. but seriously, how can the mentality of our gameplay be changed? norcia, coach changing, what?
btw, if I recall right, lazio was searching for a belgian forward that plays in the eredivisie. I think he was bjorn vleminckx and he has scored 17 goals in 24 matches. take that, cavani. too bad we couldn’t conclude the affair. even though we already have kozak, but he ain’t enough, cuz he needs further improvement. like muslera, he once took 5 goals in one match against w.c.bbilan, now he’s among the top keepers on the world, and second(or third)in the world cup.
well, palermo is up ahead. never felt this unsure about the upcoming of the game, not even in a derby. I mean, we lost, they got ass-raped, we’re both wounded beasts and both fighting for the same spot. this is going to be a hell of a clash. -
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kozak wasn’t the kind of player we needed against cagliari in the very beginning.
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nice though toom much of fuss made abt the small issue.
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I think Floccari should be the one drifting to gather the ball from the midfield.
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