Not the start I was hoping for

By: Taib | September 18th, 2007

First off an introduction. I am Taib and I will be writing in this blog. I am pretty new to blogging so you will have to forgive me if this blog is not going to be great at the start. Rest assured, I will flesh it out eventually. I have been supporting Lazio since 1995-1996 which was way back. Currently, I am a university student with too much time on my hands.

Luckily, this inaugural post was baptised by a Lazio match against the Greek side Olimpiacos, from Athens. Unfortunately, fans were not allowed inside the stadium because of crowd trouble relating to Olimpiacos venture last season in the Champions League. Lazio started in our usual 4312 formation with De Silvestri, Stendardo, Cribari and Zauri in defence. Mudingayi, Ledesma and Manfredini were the three centrel midfielders playing in fornt of the the defence. Mauri was back for his first start of the season in the trequartista role. Rocchi and Pandev were the strikers.

The first half was a real morbid affair with Lazio not being able to create anything substantial. The story of the season so far. Chances for both teams were minimal but Galetti should have scored. He shot straight at Ballotta when through on goal. Other then that chances were threadbare. Nothing happenning for long periods of the game.

After the break Olimpiacos stepped up their game. They gave Lazio a real warning from a corner when Antzas headed straight at Ballotta. Not long after though they eventually made the breakthrough they deserved. Galletti was released and gleefully rounded Ballotta and stuck it away. A nice goal I admit it myself. Although I have to say this goal was maybe offside. If you think that this goal finally snapped the Lazio players into action then you would be sorely mistaken. In fact it was Olimpiacos who were galvanised completely. They had further chances although mostly long range shots. Lazio then equalised against the run of play. First real chance from open play after an exasperating 77 minutes. Pandev played a dream ball through to Zauri who blasted the ball in at the near post. 1-1 and Lazio then finally got out of their shell. The goal though however nice it was clearly offside. Maybe the linesman was still in awe of Pandev’s pass. Who knows? Lazio were now the better team and Pandev should have scored five minutes from time when he was clean through on goal. It would have been an undeserved victory but I would not have complained. 1-1 the game finished.

Zauri...Controversial equaliser

Zauri…Controversial equaliser

I have to say we are lucky to come away with a result from a dreadful performance. The players have to pick themselves up because it was awful. Our next match is in Bergamo away to Atalanta. A tough place to get any kind of result. We need the result however to kickstart our season. Three points is a must.