Lazio 3 – Torino 1

By: salvatore | September 28th, 2008

Well, there was bound to be a bit of a drop off for the first place Biancoceleste following their destruction of the Viola midweek, and that’s what we saw in the first half against Torino today. For about 25 minutes, the team looked tired, lost, sloppy and out of sync. Frankly, they were lucky they weren’t behind.

What made the difference? A few things, but mostly, Mauro Zarate.

Goals number 1 and 2 were displays of the Zarate Kid’s various skills, whether it be the way he took on and dribbled through three men to set up Pandev’s goal in the first, or the way he unleashed a monster of a strike in the second to pad the lead.

Oh, and he also got the third goal, slotting home a comical penalty against replacement keeper Ventola without any worries. Basically, he’s almost too good to be true, and if you’re counting, that’s six goals in five games now for the 21-year old, which helps put the team at the top for goals scored so far.

All that said, the man of the match for me was possibly Pasquale Foggia. True, for most of the first half he was, along with the rest of our midfield, invisible and pinned back by the play of Abate and Co. But in the second he was a beast, running at everything, attacking with flair, and even rushing back to pitch in on the defensive end. It was a tremendously confident performance, and he almost capped it off with a dribble happy goal that saw him take on multiple defenders and almost win. It was incredible stuff, and if he keeps it up, he’ll quickly become an irreplaceable first team leader (and a sure fire fan favorite).

I don’t have to tell you that last season, this would have been a loss. Had we lost Cribari (he got an elbow to the face and was replaced by the rock solid Rozehnal), would we have had a real replacement? Had we come out with the same lack of energy, would we have been able to recover and pull ourselves out of the hole? No fucking way. This season though, there’s real quality up front, able players on the bench, and best of all, real confident belief in the team. Carrizo in parictular is so confident it’s borderline insane.

For the second game in a row he played with the ball near his box, dribbling it around a pressuring forward and practically toying with him. I’m sure one day this kind of stuff will backfire, but it’s that spirit of total cockiness that’s been missing around here for awhile. It’s exciting, and there’s no telling where it will lead.

Lecce is the next Serie A test on Saturday at Olimpico, but the team has Atalanta to contend with first in a Coppa Italia match on Wednesday. You can be sure the squad will be rotated, and some players will be rested. For the first time in a long while though, that doesn’t scare me in the slightest.

Forza Lazio.