Bologna – Lazio

By: cathal | October 18th, 2008

Lazio will travel to Bologna tomorrow to take on a troubled team who are desperately in need of a few points.

This is not another Lecce. Bologna’s league form has been poor in comparison and that is going to dictate the way they play. After six games they have only collected three points although that win did come against Milan in the San Siro. However, their home form has been nothing short of abysmal. No points, no goals. Zero, zilch, nothing. That could well mean we are encountering them at the right time but it could also indicate that we are meeting them at their most dangerous. Not for the first time this season that I will say we are fighting a wounded animal (Milan, anyone?)

The truth of the matter is both sides want and more importantly need the points. I think it will be a game of two teams going at it with what they’ve got. I sense hard tackles, a bit of indiscipline and just an immensely physical game in general. For me, it is probably not the game to start Rocchi in. Tommaso is fully fit and undoubtedly ready to go mentally but physically he still lacks the match practice to last the pace. Therefore expect Rossi to go with the Foggia-Pandev-Zarate combination from the start and then we could possibly see Balboa enter when one of them is fatigued. Delio himself has admitted that he hasn’t made a decision on Tommaso because he can’t play for ninety minutes so a place on the bench would be sensible. Matuzalem, Manfredini, Firmani and ex-Bologna star, Meghni are all absent from the squad for fitness reasons and this limits our midfield options. However, Dabo is back in the squad and he is rumoured to be stepping in for Mauri in this game. The thought of a Dabo-Ledesma-Brocchi midfield excites me; I am keen to see if Ledesma is more creative when he has two excellent defensive midfielders beside him. In the defensive stakes, it looks as if the fit again Cribari will partner Siviglia in the centre of defence with the shaky Kolarov and the highly impressive Lichtsteiner as the wing backs. As much as this is what Rossi is expected to go with, it’s impossible to predict as this is the first time all season we have had almost all our believed first teamers fit. So it will be interesting to see who lines out for us tomorrow.

Bologna have so much at stake tomorrow, in fact, their coach’s future could depend on the outcome of the game and a bizarre rumour suggests Sinisa Mihajlovic could be in line to replace Arrigoni. Not sure how credible that idea is but it’s certainly intriguing. As a team, I think Bologna lack quality across the field but they have a touch of class in some areas; Valiani has a boomer of a shot on him and we all know what Di Vaio can do. Also, Mudingayi will be welcoming his old club back. He has been in a fitness race all week and may have to miss the tie but hopefully we will get to see him in action. He was a fantastic figure at Lazio and I am sure he will get a warm reception from the travelling fans.

The worry for me is we face a side who have just lost five games on the trot, who have shown they can step up in big games, who need to get the fans going again, who need to pick up points, who need to score and we are the ones caught up in all this. A win would be an amazing result. This is one of the toughest games we have had so far this season and a win tomorrow would make me throw out all my away game doubts. On paper it looks tricky enough but in reality? Let’s wait and see. Forza Lazio!