Europa League, Levski - Lazio, Thursday, 01-10-09

A very tough away game in Sofia. Levski are in a bad run of form recently (I think now 4 loses in a row - Lokomotiv, Villarreal, CSKA, Chernomorets) and will most likely be playing with their 3rd choice goalkeeper (Dimitrov) as the main choice (Petkov) has a shoulder injury, while Mitrev has a broken arm. Hopefully the team will have the 4 players back that were part of a scam last weekend hours before the Sofia derby with CSKA took place meaning all 4 could not take part in the match. That was fucking unbelievable. I hope they catch the pricks responsible.

Levski have some good players, like Ze Soares, Tasevski, Rabeh, Dimitrov, Milanov and Sarmov, so it won't be easy by any means but Lazio should be capable of winning this one - especially with Levski down on morale and on a bad losing streak. Against Villarreal IMO Levski looked very good though and in European competition the team does lift itself well so I hope to see that as they are my hometown team.

For me it will be a difficult match as I love both teams but Lazio is my team so I will be cheering for them!

FORZA LAZIO!
CAMO LEVSKI!

Levski is such a joke , if we don't win, this will be the bottom....
Lazio should give all his heart and take good result in terms to boost the moral and raise the confidence.

These games in east are never easy...

the most dangerous player of Levski is Ze Soares - the right winger - he is fast and is a good dribler. Rabeh is a good central defender but doesn't play like one lately. We must be careful for Nikolai Dimitrov - last summer he spend some time in Arsenal on a training camp. Joazinho on the left is also dangerous - he is fast. The forwards are a joke. We shouldn't have problems with them if our defense plays properly. Although Levski is in a crisis right now it's not a team that should be underestimated. With a good concentration we will win this easy. FORZA LAZIO!

Salisburgo is a joke as well and we lost against them...

Do we have any friends in Sofia?
Let us know if you re join the stadium for the match because some Laziali are going there for 2 days and they can meeting eachother.

I'm from Sofia but I won't be able to go to the game because I have to go to work and my boss doesn't want to let me go to the game and I'm really, really sad ..

I will be able to see the guys when they land in Sofia at the airport because wednesday is my day off from work.

martinese wrote:

I'm from Sofia but I won't be able to go to the game because I have to go to work and my boss doesn't want to let me go to the game and I'm really, really sad ..

I will be able to see the guys when they land in Sofia at the airport because wednesday is my day off from work.

Martinese do us a favour!

I need u to be in the airport with some friend and give the LazioFever Welcome to la Lazio! Can you do that?..If you are able to help us please contact me. on P message.
Thanks.

Diakite and Kolarov are banned... Siviglia is injured... Who will play in defence against Levski???

Zarate - -- Rocchi

Mauri --Matuzalem - Eliseu/Brocchi

------Dabo - Baronio

Radu - Cribari - Lichtsteiner

----------Bizzarri--------

This is the probable formation. Playing with 3 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders, also the flanks must be able to do some defensive work. So again Foggia from the bench.

Surely Del Nero will play LB again rather than a change to suicidal 3 at the back with no wing backs? That "probable" formation will be so narrow it is untrue and I am sure the defenders will be even more confused than they usually are if the play that way Also, Brocchi may run about a lot but I don't think he could be as advanced as that line up has him, unless the enigma Eli plays there, which I doubt.

I think we'll see a much more standard formation with few changes because we pretty much need to win this as, however poor a run Villarreal are on, I realistically don't think we will take many points from the games with them.

Ed wrote:

Surely Del Nero will play LB again rather than a change to suicidal 3 at the back with no wing backs? That "probable" formation will be so narrow it is untrue and I am sure the defenders will be even more confused than they usually are if the play that way Also, Brocchi may run about a lot but I don't think he could be as advanced as that line up has him, unless the enigma Eli plays there, which I doubt.

I think we'll see a much more standard formation with few changes because we pretty much need to win this as, however poor a run Villarreal are on, I realistically don't think we will take many points from the games with them.

Is Del Nero in the Europa League squad??! I am thinking no....although I agree with you. Looks like an awful selection.

Ed wrote:

Surely Del Nero will play LB again rather than a change to suicidal 3 at the back with no wing backs?

Del Nero cannot play, he is not in the UEFA list, and the same goes with Stendardo.

With Diakitè, Siviglia and Scaloni injured and Kolarov disqualified, there are very few degrees of freedom for Ballardini: we have only four defenders available - Cribari, Radu, Lichsteiner, Luciani.

We have no option other than to play with 3 defenders or bring in a reserve kid and play a classic 4 man line. I read of a possibility that Dabo be brought back to CB but that sounds even more suicidal.
And Brocchi's fitness is also in question, which is why I omitted him from my (im)probable formation (which was copied off of tuttomercato ) so that leaves is with a conundrum.

We are always left with a reserve tactic, which is go all out and score more goals than you concede in a run and gun "hail Mary" game. That's what Zeman would do.

Daje Lazio!!

1) Bizzarri, 86) Muslera; 25) Cribari, 26) Radu, 2) Lichtsteiner, 6) Dabo, 23) Meghni, 8) Matuzalem, 5) Mauri, 99) Perpetuini, 7) Eliseu, 17) Foggia, 10) Zarate, 33) Baronio, 9) Rocchi, 42) Sevieri, 52) Luciani, 46) Cavanda


This is the squad, hope some of the youngsters will play!

Youngsters ? This is a very important match ... it`s not the time for experiments now that we lost to Salzburg.

Why was Cavanda chosen instead of Faraoni??. Faraoni is much better!

Boksic wrote:

Why was Cavanda chosen instead of Faraoni??. Faraoni is much better!

Faraoni have a injury.. He will be out 6 months i think...

Biancocelesti wrote:

1) Bizzarri, 86) Muslera; 25) Cribari, 26) Radu, 2) Lichtsteiner, 6) Dabo, 23) Meghni, 8) Matuzalem, 5) Mauri, 99) Perpetuini, 7) Eliseu, 17) Foggia, 10) Zarate, 33) Baronio, 9) Rocchi, 42) Sevieri, 52) Luciani, 46) Cavanda

That is worrying. We have Meghni to step in for Mauri, Perpetuini for Matuzalem and Eliseu for Foggia perhaps?

That's simply not what a bench in a european game should look like. No depth, no quality, no chance for a change of system, basically if Levski are any sort of a team and have a coach that isn't a complete and utter moron then this will need a miracle from our boys. Hopefully Rocchi and Zarate can deliver.

don't worry guys.. Levski are in a 4 loss row.. the only thing that bothers me is we don't have a LB. Plus there are rumors for a coach change at Levski so if we play confident we shouldn't have any problem even if we don't change anything

Im happy for the youth to get a game, show some grinta!

Kurama_SSLazio wrote:

Youngsters ? This is a very important match ... it`s not the time for experiments now that we lost to Salzburg.

We are required to select youngsters under the Europa League rules I believe.

No, we are selecting youngsters because we have only 3 available defenders (Cribari, Licht, Radu), Stendardo and Del Nero weren't included on the UEFA list (yet another masterstroke there), leaving us with players with 0 professional experience in a tough game.

I agree with Gio somewhat, I like to watch youngsters play, but only those who are ready for it (Perpetuini). I'm not so sure these other guys are.

That said, I'd rather use Luciani who is a true left back, than try and play Eliseu or Mauri there.

1) Luciani - Radu - Cribari - Lichsteiner
2) Mauri (Eliseu) - Radu - Cribari - Lichsteiner
3) Radu - Dabo - Cribari - Lichsteiner

Any of them is an experiment, although i prefer the first option. Luciani has been training constantly with the first team in the last weeks. Let's only hope none of them gets injured during the match, we've got only Cavanda on the bench.

According to the latest news, Diakitè (who was risked in the match against Palermo) got a strain injury which is worse than initially thought and could keep him away for three weeks at least.

c. testa wrote:

No, we are selecting youngsters because we have only 3 available defenders (Cribari, Licht, Radu), Stendardo and Del Nero weren't included on the UEFA list (yet another masterstroke there), leaving us with players with 0 professional experience in a tough game.

I agree with Gio somewhat, I like to watch youngsters play, but only those who are ready for it (Perpetuini). I'm not so sure these other guys are.

That said, I'd rather use Luciani who is a true left back, than try and play Eliseu or Mauri there.

Is there not a rule where you have to select 4 homegrown players (in our case, Luciani, Cavanda, Perpetuini and Sevieri)?