Archive for March, 2007

Well, it appears that when you are worried the most, things happen or at least easier and vice-versa. To demonstrate this we this Empoli match from last night which Lazio won so confidently by applying for the firt time in year the best finishing. See Mauri`s assist to Pandev in the first goal and Mauri-Pandev-Rocchi action on the occasion of the second one. Then Lazio scored the third goal after a powerful shot from the zone, a goal which is rarely score by us. Manfredini deserves credit for that.

Never mind, we are 3rd in the standings now (damn, who would have though in the begining of the season or even some time later when we lost two straight from Catania and Samp away) with Champions League chances strongly accumulating.

Lazio started with Peruzzi on goal; Behrami-Siviglia-Stendardo and Zauri in defense; Ledesma, Mudingayi and Manfredini in the midfield (the latter replaced injured Mutarelli); and Mauri just behind Pandev and Rocchi who played with a maks and scored a fantastic goal.

Ballota, Belleri and Makinwa entered as subs replacing Peruzzi, Mauri and Rocchi.

Here is the match report from channel4 as always and some photos from the match:

At the very beginning, let me say that Sergio Almiron (in picture on the left) is an Argentinian player who currently plays for Serie A`s biggest surprise team, Empoli, who currently lie on the 5th place in the standings, in front of the teams like AC Milan, Fiorentina, Udinese, Sampdoria etc.

Now something about Almiron`s skills and how would they integrate on the current Lazio midfield. It has been revealed by italian daily IlTempo that Lazio is seriously interested in him.  We were interested last summer as well, but Delio Rossi opted for Cristian Ledesma instead, justifying his purchase that he knew Ledesma better as he coached him at Lecce. Almiron is a typical central midfielder of a Juan Sebastian Veron`s type, which means, terrific control of the ball, fantastic passing abilities, powerful shot and great reading and vision of the game. His form in the past two seasons has seen a significang increace, hence the interest of teams like Inter, Torino, Juventus and Fiorentina. I strongly believe that he would perfectly suit in a 3 men midfield Lazio currently plays or in a typical 4-4-2 system paired in the middle by either Ledesma or one of Mudingayi/Mutarelli.

Nationality : Argentina
Age : 25
Date of birth : 7 November 1980
Haight : 1m80
Weight : 76 kg
Position : Central midfielder
Actual club : Empoli

Notwithstanding how odd it may sound, this is the first time I am writting about injuries. It seems that Sunday`s win over Sampdoria at Olimpico costed us way too much as we lost the central defenders that, believe it or not, make up the best defense in Serie A.

Namely, Cribari will be out for at some 40 days due to an injury he sustained in his right thigh and which forced him to leave the field before the match ended.

On the other hand, Sebastiano Siviglia will miss some 15 days, also due to a muscle injury in his left thigh.

This leaves Rossi with many dilema as how to procede in the next Lazo match against Reggina away and Empoli at home (hopefully after Empoli at least Siviglia will be back). It seems to me that the only solution for the time being is to insert Stendardo and move Zauri in the middle, then move Bonetto on the left and Behrami on the right.

Let`s hope for no more injuries at least for the next 2-3 weeks.