Torino - Lazio preview

Torino (2 pts, 14th place)
vs.
Lazio (-5 pts, 18th place)
20:30 CET (2:30 PM EDT) Sat, Sep 30
Stadio Olimpico, Torino

US TV: FSC (delayed broadcast at 5:00 PM EDT)

Lazio will be looking for a third consecutive victory as it faces a promoted Serie B team for the second match in a row when they travel to Torino on Saturday. Perhaps Lazio will feel at home in the another Olimpico—the recently renamed "Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino," which has never held an Olympic event but was redubbed in honor of the 2006 Winter Games. Lazio should feel comfortable against a Toro squad which has struggled to put the ball in the net against weak teams, gaining only 3 goals and 2 points from matches against Parma, Siena, and Reggina.

Despite hopes of being suitable replacements in A for their neighbors Juventus, Torino is still playing B-level calcio. One of their strikers, Roberto Muzzi, said regarding Lazio, "Di loro mi fa paura tutto..."—"They scare me completely"! Coach Alberto Zaccheroni has announced that he will play with an extremely conservative 4-3-2-1 format. With any luck this will ease the burden on the Lazio back four, allowing Oddo to try to generate more chances through this strangely shaped midfield. As long as Lazio can crack the densely packed back seven once or twice, they should be in good shape.

As for Lazio, the standard starting team should be in, except Peruzzi, who has not been called up for the match to allow him extra time to recover from his wrist injury. Thus we will see:

Ballotta
Oddo-Siviglia-Stendardo-Zauri
Foggia*-Ledesma-Mudingayi-Mauri
Rocchi-Pandev

*Gazzetta seems to think that Manfredini will get the start instead of Foggia. I'm personally surprised Foggia has not started every match. He was bought as an injury replacement for Behrami, and should be playing in Behrami's post unless there's a compelling reason for him not to. As for the front two, Rossi has undying trust in Rocchi and Pandev, but look to see Igli play from the 60th minute on.

Prediction: 1-0 Lazio, goal by Rocchi if it's in the first half, goal by Tare if in the second.

Busy week in calcio: red cards, hat tricks, and shootouts

A belated roundup of all that's gone on in the past few days, including Matchday 2 of Champions League group play. Here we go!

Champions group standings

Now that two matches have been played, the groups have started to separate themselves out. There are now clear first and second place teams in most of the groups (only a couple are separated by goal difference only). If you want to examine the results, I recommend the official UEFA site for scores listed by matchday, and Wikipedia for nicely formatted group tables. Following are the teams that are in the top half of their groups:

Chelsea, Barca, Bayern, Sporting, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Roma Merda, Lyon, Real Madrid, Man U, Celtic, Arsenal, CSKA Moscow, Milan, Anderlecht

vs. my predictions

Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiakos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, Lille

As before, differences between the two groups are noted with italics.

Gli Italiani

How are the three Italian squads faring in Champions? As you can see, only two of them are currently in the top two of their groups. Roma Merda came out firing in their first match, but have been calmed by a 2-1 loss to Valencia on Matchday 2. Milan are hardly cruising, but are two points ahead of their group after a scoreless encounter with Lille.

And that leaves...Inter. The nerazzurri are in big trouble, pointless after two matches. The future isn't looking bright either, after their 2-0 travesty against Bayern. Inter was playing with only nine men at the end of this match after red cards were shown to Ibrahimovic (two yellows) and Grosso (elbowing). As if that weren't enough for Inter, they'll be missing these two stars as they fight for their first points on Matchday 3.

Infortuna di Eto'o

Barcelona managed a 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen. With 4 points, they are not in trouble in their group, but they suffered a huge loss when Samuel Eto'o was carried off the pitch in the 65th minute. After medical examination it was determined that he tore the cartilage in his right knee and had to undergo surgery. Worst for the club, he will not be able to play for five months. Barca is certainly still strong without him, but Eto'o is truly world-class and will be missed both in Champions and the La Liga season.

Tripletta di Drogba

I am not a Didier Drogba fan. I in fact love to point out just how frequently he is able to screw up and not score (anyone remember this past spring's Africa Cup?). And knowing Chelsea's luck in Champions League play, I expected that this inability to convert would apply to the whole team. I thought it was going to, especially when Drogba's first open shot of the match rocketed off the crossbar. Then he decided to prove me wrong, spreading out a hat trick of goals through the remainder of the match. Granted, these were scored against Levski Sofia, who I think would be much happier had they just lost to Chievo and played UEFA Cup (although their fans did burst into uproarious applause when they scored their first ever Champions League goal in the last minutes of the match). Regardless, Drogba showed some skill, at least with his outside shots. Doesn't mean I have to like him now, though.

Basta con i rigori?

Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, made an interesting announcement as Matchday 2 was drawing to a close. He wants to eliminate the penalty kick shootout, such as the one that decided the World Cup final, in certain international competitions. The top options he has proposed are to go to the old school way of replaying the match, or to return to the "golden goal" format. Not that I am a huge fan of the PK showdown, but it has its practical advantages. Replaying a match, especially something as huge as the World Cup final, is a huge logistical problem in the modern era. How can a host city coordinate for the second time on short notice situations such as tickets, security, and TV broadcasting rights and schedules? Also, this format could only apply to the finals of the tournament, since if it were employed earlier on it would not only destroy the regularity of the schedule but give a huge disadvantage to teams that had to play not just 30 minutes of extra time but a full 90. And how about golden goal? If I recall correctly, golden goal formats worked similarly to the current extra time format: there was a time cap after which the match went to PKs. To set up an NHL-style overtime (play until someone scores, we'll be here all night) is impractical as well. It is rare that a hockey match goes three full periods of overtime, but I can easily see two tired football teams drag out 90 minutes of scoreless golden goal time. The truth is that there's no perfect solution, and it will be interesting to see what FIFA comes up with as a proposal.

The past week's video highlights

Highlights from the past two matches against Chievo and Atalanta. Enjoy!

Chievo 0-1 Lazio highlights on YouTube

Lazio 1-0 Atalanta highlights from sslazio.it

Lazio 1-0 Atalanta: wins and losses

Lazio got its second consecutive win and brought themselves three points closer to eliminating their penalty with a 1-0 win against Serie B champions Atalanta on Sunday. Although it was not nearly as decisive as I had predicted, the win was not unduly difficult to achieve.

Lazio started their expected lineup, except Marco Ballotta started in net instead of Angelo Peruzzi. It was announced on Saturday that Peruzzi was suffering from a mild wrist injury and would be a game-time decision. Obviously he was not feeling 100%, and Ballotta got the nod from Delio Rossi. Ballotta looked sharp as ever in goal, and smothered or blocked away the few serious shots made against him. He did face two one-on-one attacks from sharp angles, which he cut off nicely.

Lazio's midfield continues to improve. The Foggia-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Mauri line seems to be working better as a whole. Atalanta knew that they wanted to stop the biancoceleste midfield from generating chances, and tried to congest the center of the pitch as much as possible. Despite this tactic, Lazio was not stifled like they were against Milan in the season opener. It was difficult to get long balls up the field and into the control of the forwards or attacking midfielders, but passes through the middle were not completely unproductive and Lazio seldom lost possession without ample challenge.

On offense Lazio still found its most successful opportunities coming from set pieces. Two shots in rapid succession following from a Oddo free kick in the 37th minute were blocked by a frantic Calderoni and stopped Lazio from taking the lead. Other than some failed crosses, that would be the best offense of the first half. However, that could be attributed to the fact that Atalanta perceived Rocchi as a huge threat, often putting two, three, or even four defensemen on him to forcibly take away the ball.

At the start of the second half Rossi put in Makinwa in favor of Pandev, who again seemed sluggish and unable to generate scoring chances. Makinwa seemed to be a good kick-start to the offense, and created a chance in the box. A few minutes later, Makinwa was again challenging for the ball at the Atalanta end line. He got tangled with his defender and came away limping. The ball was put out of play and he walked it off for a minute, but as soon as play resumed, he could not continue. After playing only six minutes he had to be brought out and Igli Tare was put in as the second striker.

The fact that Igli had to play at all proved to be a saving grace for Lazio. Bringing all of his Albanian height to the box to generate high-flying header opportunities was too much of a changeup for the Atalanta defense. On a Lazio corner in the 69th minute Igli came flying forward (actually low to the ground, but still using every inch of his reach!) and deflected the ball on net. The header itself may well have been headed for the nylon, but Sebastiano Siviglia made sure with a sliding putaway. Lazio was able to control the ball for most of the remainder of the game and only let Atalanta even get down towards the box a couple more times. After 4 minutes of recupero, the whistle blew to seal the victory.

And what happened to Makinwa that he had to leave the match? KataWeb reports today that he suffered a hamstring pull and following an MRI it has been determined that he will be unable to play for approximately a month. That will prove to be a damper on Lazio's offense, which has been relying on Makinwa for second-half play and should really be starting him in place of Pandev. At least Tare played well on Sunday, and it would be good to see him more on the pitch—sometimes it feels like Lazio is just paying him to be the token goofy giant Albanian guy on the bench. On the flip side of the injury report, there is no indication that Peruzzi shouldn't be available for this weekend's match at Torino.

Lazio - Atalanta preview

Lazio (-8 pts, 18th place)
vs.
Atalanta (5 pts, 6th place)
15:00 CET (9:00 AM EDT) Sun, Sep 24
Stadio Olimpico, Roma

US TV: FSC (live)

Lazio heads back home to the Olimpico this Sunday to try to eliminate another three points of penalty against newly promoted Atalanta. Although Atalanta has fared decently well in Serie A so far this season, they will not be in top form for matchday 4. The squad has four players benched due to injury and just earlier this week lost their defenseman Moris Carrozzieri for a two-month ban. Carrozzieri was penalized on Thursday for obtaining inside information and helping a friend bet on Serie C matches. As such, Atalanta has a lineup in crisis. They are keeping their starting 11 secret until Sunday, but the element of surprise is the only possible strength remaining for them.

Meanwhile Lazio only has one player out, which will mean the lineup changes will be minimal. Massimo Mutarelli tried to practice and be ready for this match, but his calf injury has not cleared up in time. He should be available in a week's time for Torino - Lazio, and meanwhile it's expected that Pasquale Foggia will take his place. The rest of the lineup should remain as we've seen it the past two games, despite the fact that gazzetta.it and KataWeb seem to disagree upon whether Pandev or Makinwa will start alongside Rocchi. I would tend to believe KataWeb, given Delio Rossi's continuing confidence in Pandev. The lineup should look as follows:

Peruzzi
Oddo-Siviglia-Stendardo-Zauri
Foggia-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Mauri
Rocchi-Pandev

Tomasso Rocchi wants a victory:

Sono arrivati i tre punti. Siamo contenti ma ora ce ne vogliono altri tre con l'Atalanta.

"We got the three points. We are pleased but now we want another three against Atalanta."

...and I will predict one as well: Lazio 3-1 Atalanta. A goal each for Rocchi, Pandev, and Makinwa.

Chievo 0-1 Lazio: points!

At last! With a 1-0 defeat of Chievo on the road, Lazio has earned its first points of the season, chipping away three points from their eleven point penalty. It would appear that Delio Rossi's "stay the course" mentality has paid off. Oddo, Stendardo, Siviglia, and Zauri were strong on the back line, allowing Chievo to make just four shots on target.

On the offensive side, Goran Pandev proved to be both a liability and a lifesaver. Although he still is not generating the quality chances that he should be, he was able to get possession in the box in the 63rd minute and draw a penalty. Massimo Oddo, always precise from the penalty spot, slotted it home to give the biancocelesti the 1-0 lead. In the 84th minute Chievo buried the ball in the back of the Lazio net, and it looked like the chance to take three points had evaporated, but the play was called offside and the goal disallowed. The lead, however tenuously gained, held until full time.

Postgame comments from the captain Oddo were, I think, dead on regarding how Lazio had to approach this game and how they have to approach the rest of the season:

E’ stata una gara molto difficile, venivamo da due sconfitte consecutive e poi a pesare ci sono gli 11 punti di penalizzazione. Dovevamo vincere a tutti i costi questa partita, abbiamo cercato di stare tranquilli e di fare la nostra gara. Sono felice di aver contribuito in maniera determinante alla vittoria. Il segreto e non guardare la classifica e ci stiamo riuscendo.

"It was a very difficult match, we were coming off of two straight losses and the 11 point penalty was weighing upon us. We had to win this match at all costs, we tried to stay calm and play our own game. I'm happy to have contributed in a way that decided our victory. [As for the future] the secret is to not look at the standings and we will succeed."

The last comment is absolutely true. If I were Delio Rossi, I would post the classifica in the locker room...as if no teams had been penalized! And it would look like this:

1	Palermo	9
2	Milan	9
3	Messina	7
4	Inter	7
5	Roma	6
6	Siena	6
7	Atalanta	5
8	Empoli	5
9	Udinese	4
10	Catania	4
11	Livorno	4
12	Lazio	3
12	Fiorentina	3
14	Reggina	3
15	Sampdoria	2
16	Cagliari	1
17	Chievo	1
18	Torino	1
19	Ascoli	1
19	Parma	1

That is the picture in Oddo's mind. It is not nearly so daunting. Another three points are possible against Atalanta on Sunday. Stay the course, Lazio!

Chievo - Lazio preview

Chievo (1 pt, T-11th place)
vs.
Lazio (-11 pts, 18th place)
20:30 CET (2:30 PM EDT) Wed, Sep 20
Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, Verona

US TV: none

Delio Rossi is prepared to stay the course when the biancocelesti travel to Verona. He had these remarks regarding going into the match with Chievo:

Le prestazione non sono state negative. Manca solo il risultato. Se dobbiamo dire che è tutto sbagliato e da rifare, non sono d'accordo. Giochiamo meglio rispetto all'inizio dello scorso anno, anche se i risultati non lo dicono. Manca la tranquillità e la sicurezza nei propri mezzi. Non bisogna farsi prendere dalla frenesia.

"Our performances haven't been bad. Only the result is missing. I do not agree that we should say that everything is messed up and we should start over. We have played better than at the beginning of last year, but the results don't say that. We are lacking calm and confidence at certain moments. There is no need to do things in a frenzy."

In one respect this is absolutely true. Chievo is a lesser team and has only managed to get 1 point out of its first two matches (not that Lazio is doing better). In another respect, the Lazio we've seen in the first two matchdays has been flawed. Many things, such as midfield cohesion and maintaining control of the ball, have been cleared up since the season opener. Other things I worry about. Goran Pandev is obviously still tired; starting him in his third game in eight days does not seem like a bright move. I would much rather see Makinwa get the start and see how he fares. Likewise, Angelo Peruzzi was off his form against Palermo. Ballotta looked sharp the last time he played, against Anderlecht. While last Sunday's lineup will start again on Wednesday, I wish we could see this form:

Ballotta
Oddo-Siviglia-Stendardo-Zauri
Foggia-Ledesma-Manfredini-Mudingayi
Rocchi-Makinwa

Prediction: Chievo ?-2 Lazio. Rocchi and Makinwa with goals. Chievo's score subject to how badly the back four screw up.

Lazio 1-2 Palermo: counterattacked

Sorry for the overly long hiatus from posting. I think everyone involved is still recovering from the shock of the Michigan - Notre Dame football game (which I attended this weekend). If you want overly indepth and heavily biased coverage of that event, I recommend checking out mgoblog.

Turning to other matters of the weekend, Lazio remains at -11 points after losing their home opener at the Olimpico to Palermo. I've been so busy that I still have only seen the first half of the match, but it was painful on several levels. First, the FSC commentator was horrible. He committed the two major sins of soccer broadcasting: confusing the teams and butchering the players' names. Apparently he didn't even have the rudimentary Italian pronunciation lesson to let him know that Tommaso Rocchi is not pronounced Roach-y (yes, as if he were infested with vermin) and that Angelo Peruzzi is not pronounced An-hello (as if he were Spanish) and that Daniele Di Michele is not pronounced Mee-shay-lee (as if vowels in Romance languages change their quality all the time). Rant over, now how about how the team performed or, as the case was, failed to do so.

Delio Rossi started a pretty straightforward first-team lineup, with the only noticeable changes being the lack of Foggia on the right wing and Stendardo instead of Cribari (who looked so tired against Milan) at center back.

Peruzzi
Oddo-Siviglia-Stendardo-Zauri
Manfredini-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Mauri
Rocchi, Pandev

Despite the fact that Foggia was missing in the midfield, Lazio was able to gain the control of possession that it could not achieve at San Siro the week before. Chances were numerous, and Lazio had several more corners than Palermo in the first half. Two factors killed Lazio in this match: the inability to convert easy chances, such as an open Manfredini header off of a corner kick that didn't even fly on target; and susceptability to a strong Palermo counterattack. Palermo found itself running 2-on-2 twice against Lazio and both were converted with chips over Peruzzi's head. While the back line as a whole needs to be more aware, and Siviglia and Stendardo as center backs particularly need to be able to thwart those chances, I actually am willing to lay blame on Peruzzi for these two goals. Both times he was out in no man's land, making Di Michele's lobs easy scores. Angelo is a better keeper than that, and if he had been on his line he would have forced a shot that he probably could have parried.

Lazio continued to generate chances in the second half, eventually leading to Rocchi's goal in the 73rd minute, but it was not enough. Goran Pandev may as well have not been on the pitch during the first half—I don't think I heard his name uttered once, nor did I see a memorable cross to or from him. If I were Delio Rossi, I would sit Pandev and Peruzzi for a game, but Rossi seems to have more faith in his players than that:

Ho detto ai ragazzi ciò che pensavo ovvero che abbiamo fatto degli errori, ma la squadra ha creato azioni in qualità industriale. Con un pizzico di fortuna potevamo pareggiare. I fischi? Perdere non piace a nessuno e la gente non può essere contenta, ma io non posso rimproverare nulla ai ragazzi.

"I have told the players this: that I really thought that we made some mistakes, but the team created plays in high quality. With a tiny bit of luck we could have tied them. The booing? Nobody likes losing and the fans cannot be happy, but I am not able to reproach the players at all." He appears confident that the team will succeed without adjustments. Another loss in Verona tomorrow night would definitely change his mind.

Di Canio strikes back

[Note: I am leaving town and will not be back until Sunday afternoon, US time. I'm not going to be able to have time to write a Lazio - Palermo preview, but I will have a recap Sunday night.]

We all knew that once S.S. Lazio decided to pick a fight with Paolo Di Canio, he wouldn't go quietly. Here is the latest in their correspondence war:

Paolo Di Canio, in riferimento al comunicato diramato dalla S.S. Lazio, sottolinea con stupore l'incongruenza delle accuse mosse dal club e precisa che ove le esternazioni contestate fossero state realmente diffamatorie, la stessa società avrebbe già perseguito le vie legali. Nel caso in cui la stessa Figc volesse comunque indagare sulle dichiarazioni rese dal sottoscritto, sarà certamente premura dell'ufficio indagini chiedere conto al signor Lotito, che ancora parla da presidente della Lazio nonostante l'inibizione, delle sue telefonate finalizzate a far saltare la mia trattativa personale con la Cisco Roma. Il sottoscritto coglie quindi l'occasione per ribadire con fermezza la veridicità di quanto espresso, lontano da intenti lesivi dell'altrui immagine, e per evidenziare che le falsità sono semmai contenute nella nota ufficiale della Lazio, quando mi si attribuisce in modo indebito la richiesta di rinnovo contrattuale avanzata nei confronti dello stesso club. In particolare non è insita nell'indole dell'uomo Di Canio la necessità di dover elemosinare favori e sostegni, a differenza di Lotito che chiede aiuti a destra e a manca perchè non può più sostenere la società che sta gestendo. Per quanto riguarda le critiche mosse a tecnici e giocatori si specifica che la disistima è frutto di scoperte successive all'epilogo dell'esperienza in biancoceleste, quando sono venuti alla luce retroscena e misfatti che hanno di fatto accertato la presenza di tante serpi in seno alla società.

"Paolo Di Canio, in reference to the letter circulated by S.S. Lazio, points out with shock the incongruity of the accusations put forth by the club and [would like to] point out that if the contentious remarks were actually defamatory the club would have already pursued legal action. Regarding the case in which the FIGC has wanted to invest statements [of the club] the undersigned supports them, and it will certainly be a consideration of the investigations office to ask Mr. Lotito—who still calls himself president of Lazio notwithstanding his ban—for an account of his telephone calls culminating to break up my personal negotiations with Cisco Roma. The undersigned thus is taking the opportunity to repeat with force the truth of this statement, far from intending slanderous images of someone else, and to display that the falsehoods contained in the official notice of Lazio, when they attribute to me in an undeserved way a request to renew my contract, going against the club. In particular the need to beg favors and support is not in the nature of Mr. Di Canio, unlike Lotito who on the one hand asks for help and on the other is lacking because he is not able to manage the society any more. In this regard the criticisms put forth against the coaches and players shows that [my] lack of esteem was brought forth by discoveries after the end of my experience with the biancocelesti, when in retrospect the misdeeds came to light which they had done proving the presence of so many snakes in the lap of the society."

Perhaps Paolo is being a little harsh, but I have to agree in some cases. I am no outright hater of Lotito, but the man was banned from calcio, and he needs to respect that decision. The other men punished by Calciopoli are not wantonly ignoring their punishments. Other than that, hopefully this is one of the last verbal forays in this skirmish, and not the start of a protracted fight.

Chaaaaaaaampiooooooons update

A brief update, just to see how my predictions for the Champions League group stage are holding up after Matchday 1. I can't really go by the top two places to see if my picks are correct (because in any group where there was a tie, places 2 and 3 are tied) but I'll compare who got three points on Tuesday or Wednesday to those teams I thought would pass this stage:

Teams with 3 points after Matchday 1:
Barca, Chelsea, Bayern, Sporting, Roma merda, Valencia, Steaua, Lyon, Man U, Arsenal, Milan

My predictions:
Barca, Bremen, Bayern, Inter, Liverpool, Eindhoven, Valencia, Olimpiakos, Real Madrid, Lyon, Man U, Benfica, Arsenal, Porto, Milan, Lille

Italics highlight the differences between the actual and predicted, and vice versa. Of course it is still early in this phase. Anything could happen by December.

Lazio says "Paolo vattene!"

An unfortunate development in the relationship between S.S. Lazio and its former star Paolo Di Canio. After Paolo made some characteristically fierce comments about Lotito ("He is arrogant, he is destroying Lazio") and Oddo ("He thinks he's crafty, talking badly about Totti") the club has sent him what amounts to a cease-and-desist letter. Here is what it said:

La S.S. Lazio SpA ha dovuto constatare che il suo ex calciatore Paolo Di Canio si è nuovamente lasciato andare a dichiarazioni dal contenuto diffamatorio nei confronti della società, dei dirigenti, dell'allenatore e dei giocatori. La società non tollererà ulteriormente esternazioni diffamatorie nel confronti dei propri appartenenti e reagirà con tutti i mezzi, federali, civili e penali alle gratuite aggressioni verbali del Sig. Di Canio e di coloro che gli faranno da supporto.

"S.S. Lazio SpA has determined that its former player Paoli Di Canio is anew (asked to) refrain from statements that contain slander towards the club, its directors, its coaches, and its players. Furthermore the society will not tolerate defamatory expressions about its affairs and will respond in all ways—with federal and civil penalties—against the gratuitous verbal agression of Mr. Di Canio and those who support him."

I'm disappointed that Lazio has found this kind of action necessary. Just because Paolo is ex-Laziale doesn't mean he is not still the same Paolo; he is as outspoken as ever. He has not harmed the club in any demonstrable way. Yes, he has harshly criticized members of the society, but let the man speak his mind. Lazio has calcio it needs to turn its attention to, not sticks-and-stones name-calling.

Rossi's take on Milan - Lazio

Quotes thanks to the ever-useful KataWeb news service. Translations by yours truly.

On the loss:

Io tutta questa differenza non l'ho vista. Anzi, con meno errori potevamo anche ottenere qualcosa in più a livello di risultato. Sono stati gli errori che hanno deciso la partita. Ora, c'è solo il rammarico per una occasione persa.

"I did not see that much of a difference. In fact, with fewer mistakes we could have obtained a better result. It was the mistakes which decided the game. Now my only regret is that it was a missed opportunity."

On the defense:

L'anno scorso abbiamo fatto bene. Prima dell'avvio del campionato, abbiamo cercato di migliorare la rosa, ma non ci è stato possibile. Detto questo, i miei difensori hanno la completa fiducia sia da parte mia che da parte della società, compagni compresi. I problemi in difesa non dipendono da un reparto, ma dall'intera squadra.

"Last year we did well. Before the start of the season we tried to improve the roster, but it wasn't possible for us. Given this, my defensemen have full trust placed in them by me, by the team, and by their teammates. The problems with the defense do not depend on one part of the team, but upon the whole."

I think I have to agree with all of his statements. Since Rossi is on the ball, that should mean an improved result against Palermo this Sunday.

Milan - Lazio video highlights

I wish I could make these myself, but unfortunately it's very difficult to get video from my DVR to my computer. Thanks to Biancocelesti_ on the Laziofever boards for the link.



Makinwa's goal at 1'02" of the clip. Peruzzi's fabulous saves throughout. Grande Peruzzi, without you the score would have been much more lopsided.

Milan 2-1 Lazio: rossoneri able to keep control

The match was called a must-win for both sides. Of course that's not strictly true considering it was the season opener and both teams have 37 matches to go, but -8 Milan and -11 Lazio both desperately wanted to erase 3 points of their penalty. It was the rossoneri who were able to do so, not improving their position in the classifica but moving to just -5.

To counteract the home pitch advantage of Milan, Delio Rossi thought it would be wisest to start his first team lineup, despite previous reports that he would mix it up by starting Mutarelli and Makinwa on the left side. Both of them saw playing time, as they were subbed early in the second half, but by that time Lazio already had a 1-0 defecit.

That goal came off of a Pippo Inzaghi angled strike in the 27th minute. Milan put the ball into traffic in the box and Lazio performed one of its trademark defensive collapses. Three defenders were all in the immediate area and crashed Inzaghi as soon as he got the ball, but were unable to accomplish anything. Peruzzi was in good position but the shot was perfect and slotted straight into the back of the net.

Makinwa gave some surge of life (including a nice running goal from a Rocchi assist) to Lazio in the second half, looking much fresher than Pandev, who had only one scoring chance. The problem for Lazio was that although they seemed to be generating a fair number of chances, they were all on breakaways. There was never a strong midfield possession which moved upfield to generate an offensive strike. While the defense held and these few opportunities kept Lazio from looking completely unthreatening, Milan held control throughout the match. Eurosport's full box score gives some stats that are usually pretty trivial and esoteric, but today one of these told the tale: Lazio had only 133 short passes compared to Milan's 299. The biancocelesti had 47% of the possession, but no control.

Give credit to the defense and midfield of the rossoneri, but Lazio needs to develop chemistry between its starting talents. Rossi recognizes that the team did not perform as a whole:

Ha vinto la squadra più esperta: abbiamo avuto tante occasioni soprattutto nel primo tempo e con un po' di convinzione e cattiveria in più avremmo potuto uscire da San Siro con dei punti importanti

"The more experienced team won: we had many opportunities, especially in the first half, and with a little more conviction and trickery we could have left San Siro with some important points."

Instead Lazio will have to work in practice this week to solidify the midfield so that they can capitalize on their opportunities at their home opener next Sunday at the Olimpico against Palermo.

Oddo bashes Totti

Ah, one of our favorite Laziali does what we love to do best: bash Roma, and especially F***ing Totti. His statement made to the media today:

Io stimo moltissimo i giocatori che sono sempre disponibili con la Nazionale, la maglia azzurra secondo me è la massima aspirazione per un giocatore. Se uno dice non torno più in Nazionale, nessuno può permettersi di dire qualcosa. Dire invece 'Per adesso non torno, poi vediamo', per me è una mancanza di rispetto per la Nazionale. Se Totti ha deciso di non vestire la maglia azzurra, lo sa lui e avrà i suoi motivi. Ma dovrebbe prendere una decisione.

"I think very much that the players should always be available for the national team. According to me the azzuro jersey is the highest aspiration for a player. If someone says that he will no longer return to the national team, nobody can say anything about it. Instead to say 'For now I'm not coming back, we'll see later,' to me that is a lack of respect for the national team. If Totti has decided not to wear the azzurro jersey, he knows himself and has his own reasons. But he needs to make a decision."

Amen, Massimo! You've just gained back many points of Lazialità. Forza Oddo, Forza Lazio a domenica contro il Milan!!!

Milan - Lazio preview

Milan (-8 pts, 17th place)
vs.
Lazio (-11 pts, 18th place)
15:00 CET (9:00 AM EDT) Sun, Sep 10
Stadio San Siro, Milano

US TV: GolTV (live), RAI Internazionale (live)

I was going to write this preview yesterday. Good thing that I didn't, because there appear to be a few changes as the biancocelesti get set to kick off the Serie A season against the rossoneri. First came the notice today from the KataWeb news service that Stephen Makinwa will probably start in favor of Goran Pandev since Pandev just returned from NT duty with Macedonia. It remains to be seen how much of the match Stephen will play. The man who will play next to him, Tommaso Rocchi, today had some pretty strong words for Milan:

Ci deve temere perché siamo una buona squadra che dovrà partire forte per recuperare il -11. Andiamo a Milano per fare un risultato importante.

"They should fear us because we are a good team that needs to start strong to make up for the -11 [point penalty]. We are going to Milan to make an important result."

Pasquale Foggia, whose contract is still owned by Milan, is also excited to play against his former team in the season opener. It is hard to say whether Massimo Oddo will be as enthusiastic, or whether he will show any outward sign that he wishes he could be wearing the opposite jersey.

Technically, Lazio should be able to match Milan if they can avoid the defensive blunders that have plagued them in their recent friendly matches. The match in Milan will be the first time that all eight of the first team midfielders and defenders will be playing together. Oddo, happy about his contractual situation or not, will bolster the defense, and the enthusiasm of Foggia and Rocchi should help play upfield. Pandev will be available should the offense need a kick-start in the second half, and if he is not too tired he may be able to provide a deciding goal. Nonetheless San Siro is a tough stadium to play in, as their 2-0 loss last year showed. But during the girone ritorno at the Olimpico they showed that they could hang tough against Milan's offensive onslaught (which remains basically the same as last season), earning a 0-0 draw. It seems pretty certain that on Sunday Lazio will both give up and score at least one goal. The edge has to be given to Milan, but the Laziale in me says that a draw could happen.

Projected form:

Peruzzi
Oddo-Siviglia-Cribari-Zauri
Foggia-Ledsema-Mudingayi-Mutarelli
Rocchi-Makinwa

Prediction: Milan 1-1 Lazio. Goal by Ledesma.

Davvero siamo campioni del mondo?

France wishes they saw these azzurri on the pitch in July. If they had, they would be the ones calling themselves world champions today.

Italy looked like a completely different squad today in their 3-1 loss to France than when these teams last met. Roberto Donadoni's main change in the lineup were his strikers, but they were not the players who failed to perform.

World Cup Final - July 9	Euro 2008 qualifier - Sept 6
Buffon Zambrotta-Cannavaro-Materazzi-Grosso Camoranesi-Gattuso-Pirlo-Perrotta Totti Toni	Buffon Zambrotta-Cannavaro-Barzagli-Grosso Semioli-Gattuso-Pirlo-Perrotta Cassano-Gilardino

Admittedly I was only able to watch from the 60th minute on (damn having to go to class!) but what I noticed most about Italy's play is that they were being absolutely dominated in the midfield. I am not pinning this on the midfielders per se, but any action that happened between the boxes regardless of which players were involved. When the azzurri had the ball they were stagnant, if they weren't being immediately tackled or having ugly passes deftly intercepted. When les bleus were on attack, they sliced through the midfield with no resistance, and the midfield and defense seemed to be constantly and frantically backpedaling.


With backfield support like that, it's no wonder that Cassano and Gilardino saw few chances. What opportunities they did have came from the few set pieces Italy was able to set up from free kicks, and a few desperate long ball quasi-crosses that were easily intercepted by the French defenders or plucked out of the air by the French keeper Coupet. Fabio Cannavaro did get an excellent chance to close the deficit to one goal in the 77th minute when he sent a driving header straight for the goal, but Coupet was in perfect position and was able to punch it away.

Where does today's poor performance leave Italy? For starters, they now have a five point deficit behind those teams which have recorded two victories in group B: Scotland and France. It also leaves them with a coaching conundrum. With an 0-2-1 record, how much longer will Donadoni stay? Despite the poor showing today, France is an extremely strong team and must still be treated as such. I think Donadoni will be given one more chance, at the October qualifying matches against Ukraine (Oct 7) and Georgria (Oct 11). If he cannot bring back at least 4—and preferably 6—points from those two matches, it is almost certain that he will be out of his job. On the other hand, we may find out tomorrow that he's been sacked already. Either way, the same pool of NT players will be there in October and they will have to perform at a level higher than what we've seen so far, regardless of who is leading them. If they do not, Europe might not even be seeing the campioni del mondo compete in 2008.

Our roster is set, thank you...

Bizarre story from gazzetta.it:

"Mandate il conto in società, sono un giocatore della Lazio". Un 27enne venezuelano, che per truffare un ristoratore si è finto un giocatore della Lazio, è stato arrestato dai carabinieri della compagnia di Desenzano.

"'Give the check to the team, I'm a player for Lazio.' A 27-year-old Venezuelan was arrested by the carabinieri of Desenzano for defrauding a restaurant by pretending that he was a Lazio player."

Apparently this was just the last in a long string of fraud that this guy was perpetrating. All I can say is "weird..."

Oh, and the club has enough financial problems without having to pay some prankster's dinner bills.

Lazio 3-2 Anderlecht: tweaked form works

Lazio has scored an important victory in its last preseason friendly before beginning the Serie A campaign against Milan this coming Sunday. Delio Rossi fielded a very similar lineup (only replacing Peruzzi with Ballotta and Bonetto with Manfredini) but changed the form from the unsuccessful 4-5-1 to 4-4-1-1 as follows:

Ballotta
Belleri-Siviglia-Cribari-Zauri
Foggia-Mudingayi-Ledesma-Manfredini
Quadri
Makinwa

The midfield looked much less clogged and plays were able to open up. The first Lazio goal came from neo-biancoceleste Ledesma, who curled in a beautiful direct free kick (which interestingly was almost an exact copy of the first Anderlecht goal). It's promising to see that we have players that are capable of those types of kicks, because Lazio has not been able to generate that kind of threat on set pieces in the past year. The second goal, tying it at 2-2, came on a precision feed to Makinwa who had taken off at full sprint and just managed to stay onside for a one on one opportunity which he fed through the Anderlecht keeper's legs. The winning goal came on a bit more of a lucky play, a pinball-style goal that was last touched by Belleri. Not as pretty as the others, but it showed that Lazio was keeping the pressure on and generating chances in the box.

The defense also didn't see the lapses that it did in the match against Espanyol. Their opening goal was a beautiful direct free kick that neither the back four nor Ballotta could do much of anything about. Yes, the second goal for Anderlecht came from a penalty shot that could have been avoided, but Ballotta is back in form and actually blocked the rigore and only was surpassed on the rebound. All in all a good showing for Lazio, with promise for the opener against Milan, when Oddo, Rocchi, and Pandev can be reintroduced to the lineup.

Donadoni disappoints again

Roberto Donadoni may be on his way to a very short stint as coach of the Italian national team. After Saturday's surprising 1-1 draw with much lower-ranked Lithuania, Donadoni is looking down the barrel at Wednesday's World Cup final rematch on the road against France. To his credit, Italy was not only expected to win the match but should have won the match. There were many excellent crosses sent into Lithuania's box, but none of them could be converted. One particular misfortune for Italy was a Pirlo corner headed perfectly inside the post, but just barely cleared by a leaping Lithuanian defender who was stationed there.

For the Laziali, Massimo Oddo started the game and played the full 90 minutes. He was involved in lots of forward-moving plays and crossed the ball a couple of times. It's good to see that Donadoni recognizes his potential as an NT starter. He will be a Lazio starter until at least January, which is the even better news for the biancocelesti.

The same group of players are called up for the France match, and a similar starting lineup is likely.

Espanyol 2-0 Lazio, but no reason to worry

Yesterday Lazio lost 2-0 in a friendly against Espanyol for the Trofeo Ciutat de Barcelona. The match was not pretty, especially the ways in which Lazio gave up the goals and nearly gave up a few more, but it was clear that this was being played as an experimental match. Delio Rossi, without Rocchi (at NT duty), Pandev (just resting), and Oddo (also at NT) decided to start a creative 4-5-1 lineup and see how it fared:

Peruzzi
Belleri-Cribari-Siviglia-Zauri
Foggia-Ledesma-Bonetto-Mudingayi-Quadri
Makinwa

Foggia looked very promising on the wing, but couldn't make plays through the overpacked midfield, and there were very few opportunities to pass ahead with only Makinwa striking. Lazio went behind 1-0 near the end of the first half when the entire back line took a brief nap during an Espanyol set piece. When Rossi started making substitutions, it became clear that he was treating this as solely an exhibition match. Greco, Firmani, Baronio, Casini, Capogna, De Silvestri, and most surprisingly of all, 3rd string keeper Berni all saw action. Lazio did mount one last push in the 90th minute which cost them the counterattack and Espanyol's second goal. None of the players or coaches seemed troubled by this fact, so late in the game. The expiriment may have not been successful, but it was a necessary step on the path towards Milan on September 10.

Look for a more conventional Lazio line against Anderlecht on Sunday (Anderlecht is in Champions group stage after all, so Rossi really needs to put forth his best team possible), and the biancocelesti stars ready to come off the bench against Lithuania this afternoon in Napoli.

Foggia happy, Jimenez angrier and angrier

A couple of soundbites for those of you that don't read Italian. First from Pasquale Foggia, a statement that he's very happy to join Lazio:

Per me è un grande onore questo trasferimento in biancoceleste. Roma è una grande piazza e io ho voluto fortemente la Lazio. Rossi è un allenatore capace e attua un tipo di gioco in grado di esaltare le mie caratteristiche. Avevo anche altre possibilità, ma non le ho prese in considerazione.

"For me this transfer to the biancocelesti is a great honor. Rome is a great place and I have strongly wished [to play for] Lazio." Regarding the coaching: "Rossi is a skilled coach and uses a style of play that shows off my charactersitics. I also had other possibilities, but I did not consider those."

Also a statement from Luis Jimenez's legal counsel:

Quel che è certo è che la storia di Jimenez a Terni è finita. ... L'accordo era stato raggiunto già il 10 agosto, poi la Ternana ha sempre rimandato la chiusura, fino a cambiare tutti i termini dell'accordo all'ultimo giorno di mercato. Addirittura Pesce e gli altri dirigenti hanno tentato di vendere alla Lazio 4 giocatori che a loro non interessavano più: Oshadoghan, Troise, Del Nero e Corrent. I comportamenti che ha subito Jimenez sono chiari. Abbiamo due strade, la giustizia sportiva e quella ordinaria. L'intenzione è quella di rimanere nell'ambito sportivo...ma solo se verranno rispettati i diritti e la dignità di un lavoratore.

"What is certain is that Jimenez's time at Terni is over. ... The agreement was already made on the 10th of August, then Ternana always postponed the closure [of the deal], up until they changed the whole result of the agreement on the last day of the mercato. Really [Giuliano] Pesce [technical coordinator of Ternana] and the other managers have put up for sale to Lazio 4 players that they are not interested in any more: Oshadoghan, Troise, Del Nero e Corrent. The actions that Jimenez has are suddenly clear. We have two paths, the sporting court and the ordinary court. Our intention is to remain in the sporting realm...but only if they respect the rights and dignity of their employee."

If Jimenez gets his contract successfully terminated, perhaps Lazio will see him in Rome soon. To follow his legal travails too closely is a mistake, however. Lazio needs to work within the players they have acquired and kept. If Jimenez can successfully fill a void in the future, it sounds likely that he will come calling back to Lazio, but if not the biancocelesti must move on. And never deal with Ternana again.

Andre will play another day...

I will admit that one of my perennial weaknesses is watching the US Open from the opening rounds all the way through the finals. (The reason this is particularly bad is because there is live coverage for at least half of the day and it takes place right at the beginning of the school year.) Making sure that I catch some of the opening round coverage is even more important this year, as every match for Andre Agassi may be his last. Ordinarily I wouldn't care too much about a second-round game, but his match tonight against Marcos Baghdatis was a stunning marathon.

Agassi took the first two sets, both of which were extremely close and saw some freakish moments, such as when Baghdatis wiped out in the middle of a rally but managed to right himself and actually win the point, despite concern that he may have injured or even broken his wrist from the fall.

His wrist was fine, and he came back to take the third set. Agassi opened a 4-0 lead in the fourth set only to see it evaporate and force a deciding fifth set. Andre, 15 years Marcos' elder and with an ailing back, was expected to falter when he became tired. Both were tired, but it was Baghdatis who cramped and, prohibited by rule to receive treatment in the middle of a game, gimped and stomped about in a never-ending 21-point game which Agassi finally held. Still ailing, Baghdatis dropped his final service game to end his tournament and extend the career of one of the legends of tennis. Baghdatis was tired and flustered enough that in his post-match on-court interview, he may or may not have dismissively uttered "Shit..." prompting a laugh from the New York crowd. Andre looked even more exhausted, but maintained his composure. It remains to be seen whether having endured this marathon will allow him to maintain his life in this tournament and the short remainder of his career.