Pandev and the new era of…

By: salvatore | September 5th, 2008

What does scoring two goals in your league debut get you? Well, if Mauro the Zarate Kid is anything to go by, it should result in some effusive press back home in South America, your team president proclaiming that Crespo isn’t worth buying because they have you, articles in the Corriere Dello Sport, comparisons to and praise from Beppe Signori , and a reaction from international oddsmakers, who promptly cut your chances of leading the league in scoring by half. All in all, not completely awful for 90 minutes of work.

That said, I think the excitement over Mauro has taken the spotlight away from the player that will probably be most important to the team’s progress: Goran Pandev.

Now Goran doesn’t necessarily need the press and attention. We all know who he is and what he’s capable of. But I think this season will truly be a monster year for the Macedonian striker. Why? Well, aside from the fact that he now has the chance to get much better service from hotshots like Pasquale Foggia and the aforementioned Zarate Kid, he’s also set to resume his unexpectedly symbiotic relationship with Tommaso Rocchi, a partnership that seems to just get better with time.

Partly because he’s been around for so long, people tend to forget that Pandev is only 25 years old…an incredibly young age when you consider how much experience he already has. Provided he says healthy, this should be his prime, and I think he’ll be able to eclipse the career-high 14 goal season posted last year (itself an improvement from the consecutive 11 goal campaigns he managed in 05/06 and 06/07).

Goran is on international duty this weekend against Scotland (not getting injured would be nice), so you can see him in action. If by chance you’re not in the habit of watching Macedonian (or Scottish, for that matter) world cup qualifying matches, here’s a pretty good tribute to the man:

In other team news, the development of a Lazio Channel has been announced in the last few days, with the large-scale multimedia project said to be a combination of digital and analog technologies. As a musician who spends a lot of time arguing in favor of seemingly outdated analog equipment (hello recording to tape), this is great to hear, but in all honesty, I have no idea what it means, unless of course the team is planning on preserving their press conferences on reel to reel…

Details have yet to be ironed out, but new press officer Stefano De Martino has said that the project quelled “doubts” he had initially with its scope and ambition, and that it was a “new era of communication” that will give fans access to the team 24 hours a day. Those are big, fluffy kinds of words, and they may be exciting in an abstract kind of way, they’re not exactly clear on what the plan is.

He did say that it would involve an overhaul of the team’s site, which likely would include the streaming of practices, press conferences and games (a relief for anyone that struggled to find a stream last Sunday), as well as access to players and staff, and new team-specific television and radio channels.

Those who oppose “Modern Football”, and the Manchester City takeover definitely brought these people out, will likely be disgusted with these kinds of announcements and plans, but this is the way things are now, and they way they’re progressing. Not to keep up would be foolish and counterproductive.

Hopefully the specifics will be released soon, and we can explore the matter some more.