Lazio – Napoli

By: cathal | October 25th, 2008

Napoli will travel to the Olimpico tomorrow to take on a Lazio side who are beginning to struggle after a tremendous start to the season.

I have always had this impression that Napoli are the club everyone loves to hate. They seem to have an underlying rivalry with everyone; an intense passion that sometimes spills over. However, one has to appreciate the step forward that the club has made in recent seasons. This is a battle between two teams who have had troubling times of late; times they hope are behind them and two sides seemingly on the up. My mouth is watering at the prospect of this game.

Lazio have had a disastrous couple of games. A poor draw against Lecce was followed up with a frankly embarrassing defeat in Bologna. The results have not been going our way but to be honest, we haven’t deserved them on recent performances. In Napoli, we face a step up in quality; a side who are in that pack of teams that wish to qualify for the Champions League/Uefa Cup. I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again but this is a must win game. If we want to seriously challenge for a place in the Top 6, then three points at home to Napoli is a requirement.

It’s not going to be easy, especially if the probable line up I found is to be believed. Firstly, both Rocchi and Meghni picked up knocks in one of those midweek friendlies and they will not take part in proceedings this weekend. Both have had injury issues this season and Tommaso, in particular, is a huge blow after his successful return to action. It seems he could be out for a few weeks which is exactly what we didn’t need right now. Dabo and Cribari are also absent from the squad and it appears Delio’s solution is to put Rozehnal and Manfredini in their place. I have little faith in David and Sebastiano at the back and I have less faith in Manfre so excuse me if I come across all pessimistic. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Foggia could be benched and all. Hmmm…I hope this is all lies.

As for Napoli, well, two men instigate all my fears; Hamsik and Lavezzi. I expect that pair to cause us problems all afternoon and with Marek’s clever feet and Ezequiel’s pace, I think the only option is to press them and hope for the best. Also in their setup is young Santacroce (who we were linked with over the summer) and Maggio; two players on the verge of big things with the Azzurri. As much as Napoli have some excellent individuals, the rest of the side is fairly unspectacular but they have been solid so far this season, hence reaching and maintaining the higher echelons of the league table.

All in all, I hope this a game we can win. Napoli are there to be defeated but they have ambitions and aspirations and will be looking for the spoils. I expect it to be an exciting encounter that will be close until the very end; hopefully with us winning through at the death. Forza Lazio!