Week 24: Cagliari

By: salvatore | February 23rd, 2008

Lazio Cagliari

The boys in Biancoceleste are in the isle of Sardinia tomorrow to face off against last-place Cagliari. On paper, it would seem like there’s reason for optimism, but the way this season has gone so far, who the hell knows what can happen? Especially when you have Camorra boy-toy Pasquale Foggia trying to stick it to us for giving up on him (here’s hoping no one ends up in a shallow Campania grave), and a Cagliari side that gets more desperate with every winless week.

Basically, these are the games that can bite you in the ass if you let your guard down, and if Lazio intends to break into the Uefa Cup positions, they need to win.

According to Piazza Della Liberta, Big Daddy Rossi had Mauri playing behind Pandev and Rocchi in training, which would mean Rolando Whitey rides the pine again. Hopefully he’ll get a start in the next few weeks, but coming off a 3-0 win there’s no reason to rock the boat up front.

Coach also had Faccia di Schiaffo Behrami in place of De Silvestri, and Kolarov in for Radu, with Manfredini, Mudingayi and Ledsema in the engine room. How Ledesma keeps getting into the starting eleven is mind-boggling, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he is either incredible skilled at oral sex or he has very incriminating photographs of Delio stashed away somewhere. Then again, it might just be because Mutarelli and Firmani are unavailable. Who knows, but I’m secretly hoping he plays his best game of the year to make me look like an ass.

All and all, a pretty offensive formation, which would seem like the right mentality given the behind the scenes turmoil at Cagliari.

Probable formations:

Lazio: Nonno Ballotta, Behrami, Siviglia, Cribari, Kolarov, Mudingayi, Ledesma, Manfredini, Mauri, Pandev, Rocchi

Cagliari: Storari, Pisano, Lopez, Bianco, Agostini, Biondini, Vitor Gomes (in for Conti), Parola, Foggia, Jeda, Matri

Likelihood that Lazio blows it: 35%
Likelihood that someone with a Neapolitan accent comes to Foggia’s aid: 65%
Prediction: Lazio 2 Cagliari 1 (but given Lazio’s ability to shoot themselves in the foot, it can easily go the other way)

Here’s what happened the last time these teams met: