Serie A: LAZIO-SAMPDORIA, Sunday, 18-10-09

The red card was unforgivable given the sitaution.

A draw is no disaster. Agreed.

But single points here and there will only leave us further adrift near the top. When teams like Palermo & Napoli pick up wins. And probably Roma tonight.

No expectations going into this game, I say I'm mostly satisfied. Lazio looks solid, and we're creating chances against tough and organized opposition. It may not be a hundred chances, but if our aim were 10% better we would have won it no questions. Take into consideration that Sampdoria are top of the league and not undeservingly so.

Another thing about Sampdoria, I respect their team spirit and hard work. Also, if we set pizza-face Cassano aside, a great deal of fair play. It's reflected best in their captain Palombo, who throughout the game worked very hard in stifling our attacks, kept the ball nicely and even had quite a few decent passes. Also always ready to shake hands after a foul, not in it to hurt players or cheat the ref.

Watching this game I have a renewed and strengthened optimism going into Thursday's match against villareal. Zarate is on fire, Rocchi is almost there, and having Kolarov and Diakite back in the squad helps helluva lot.

Samp worked hard but in all honesty, I think we deserved more than a point from this.

The main point I would make is that we were sharp, focused and nobody played disastrously. I'll list a few key issues for me...

- Mauri cannot be left out under any circumstances. He can make such a difference.
- Ditto with Matuzalem and Zarate.
- Foggia needs to stay on the bench. Ballardini has got that one right in my opinion.
- Rocchi needs to realise that Mauro will pass and his job is to chase it. Cannot stand still surrounded by 2 CB's and complain when it doesn't reach him.
- Siviglia costs us points. Bad marking on the goal although only Pazzini would have buried that. Right move to play him at right-back given Cassano.
- Contrary to popular opinion, correct subs made in my opinion.

I can't take criticism of Ballardini, he plays exactly as I would and makes the decisions I would make 90% of the time. Perhaps I'm biased but I genuinely believe, over the course of this season, we will improve on what we did last year in the league. I have few doubts, he's doing a great job as far as I'm concerned...

So Mauri can make such a difference but Foggia needs to stay on the bench? In other words Foggia can't make a difference? I am kind of confused here.

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Rocchi needs to realise that Mauro will pass and his job is to chase it. Cannot stand still surrounded by 2 CB's and complain when it doesn't reach him.

To be fair, very often Zarate does not pass when he should have and if you refer to the occasion in the first half I think Rocchi was well positioned but Zarate misunderstood his intentions - bad coordination, not the fault of just Rocchi who was in fact open to a pass but in a different position.

And I don't see how you can say we made the right subs when we failed to press our advantage when we had one player more on the pitch. Maybe they were the right subs at the time but too late overall.

All in all fair resilt..... Lazio had more chances but Sampdoria did had 3 penalties....

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Rocchi needs to realise that Mauro will pass and his job is to chase it. Cannot stand still surrounded by 2 CB's and complain when it doesn't reach him.

Yeah , Rocchi needs to realize something that he is doing all his life(successfully).lol....
On the other hand, with his skills and abilities Zarate could make easily a lot more passes and chances like that. But for this, first he should think in this direction and his efforts and game should be turn entirely for the good of the team.
And excuse me , but most of his passes comes when he is blocked already and desperately aims to rid off the ball....This is not Argentina , because now he is playing just like he is there....I am mad at him, because he could be far better than that!
If you ask me , I would rotate him with Foggia until he learns how to be a team player.

I understand the concerns about Zarate but on too many occasions, Rocchi failed to act on balls he would otherwise react to if it was Pandev.

This is the point I'm trying to press on. On many an occasion, Zarate dribbed through defenders and played a good ball when there was no shooting opportunity available and Rocchi did not make a move, a run or anything to take himself away from the defenders. He expects Zarate to do something different from what he is doing when really, I think Tommaso has to concentrate on his own game. Too much Zarate watching for me and that's not me trying to protect Zarate because I know full well he makes mistakes but we need more from Tommaso.

As for the Foggia issue, Matuzalem carved out a great opportunity and took it well and was a threat all day long, holding up the ball nicely to bring Mauri and Zarate into the game. That's what he offers. Foggia runs at people and sometimes plays a key pass and scores the very odd goal but he can't defend and he is every bit as wasteful as Maurito. So, for me, I couldn't play him ahead of Matu or Maurito and I don't think he can play Mauri's role. My position on this won't change; I simply think he is best coming off the bench.

When Baronio got sent off, we took off Rocchi who was doing nothing and threw on Cruz and we consolidated our midfield with Dabo which we needed to do to stop Cassano. Then, late in the game, Del Neri switched Cassano to the right to stop Kolarov from causing problems. He hit the bar which I would imagine shows he was a threat to the draw and so Ballardini made Aleksandar track him and brought on Lichtsteiner for Siviglia so we could press from the other flank which led to two goalscoring opportunities.

I really can't criticise Balla for that, it wasn't meant to be today but I at least think he did what he had to.

I'm beginning to wander if we are going to see Foggia as a starter....otherwise good result

Caxi wrote:

we need more from Tommaso.

You are right about that.Today Rocchi did miss , two chances which at least one should have been a goal. But as substitute for Rocchi we have Cruz, and we had Pandev....
But with the skills of Zarate , we have who.... No one , and that's why if this boy starts to play , as I want him to be and create 4, 5 goal chances in a match he will become my favorite player , a hero , a saver and deserved captain!
I just want to watch a team efforts and I want to watch one balanced team. Not just team with strong individuals , I hate that ...

Roman Eagle i am going to wait for news Foggia wants to leave Lazio. And he has all the right to do it. Its a shame. Now that he missed a goal chance against viola everyone thinks sleepyghostmisser mauri is better. Maybe the first time i really saw matuzalem something doing but even he is a ghost than a treq. Anyway we had somekind of a tactic today and unfortunately we didnt take our chances. Still draw is always better then to lose.

I actually feel sorry for him, never mind that he scored I've no hard feelings against him as he is a quality player.

But you've got to admit it looks awesome

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That's what he offers. Foggia runs at people and sometimes plays a key pass and scores the very odd goal but he can't defend and he is every bit as wasteful as Maurito. So, for me, I couldn't play him ahead of Matu or Maurito and I don't think he can play Mauri's role.

Foggia can play as RM which will allow us to put Brocchi in Baronio's place and get rid of Mr Useless for good. Not to mention that Mauri is a ghost on the pitch in half of the games, just because he was good today doesn't mean he is better than Foggia overall. As for Foggia not being able to defend, I think he does it a lot better than most attacking midfielders and our current problem is scoring not defence.

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I understand the concerns about Zarate but on too many occasions, Rocchi failed to act on balls he would otherwise react to if it was Pandev.

It took years for him and Pandev to get that magical understanding they had. And Pandev was never nearly as selfish as Zarate. There have been tons and tons of examples of Rocchi and other players being in great positions only for Zarate to shoot or try to dribble the entire defence. Sure, in an ideal world they would keep positioning themselves well at every opportunity but I can picture them thinking "why bother, he will shoot anyway". Ballardini keeps on praising and praising Zarate in every interview, maybe Rocchi is bitter or something...

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When Baronio got sent off, we took off Rocchi who was doing nothing and threw on Cruz and we consolidated our midfield with Dabo which we needed to do to stop Cassano. Then, late in the game, Del Neri switched Cassano to the right to stop Kolarov from causing problems. He hit the bar which I would imagine shows he was a threat to the draw and so Ballardini made Aleksandar track him and brought on Lichtsteiner for Siviglia so we could press from the other flank which led to two goalscoring opportunities.

And I already said I don't have much of a problem with the subs post-Baronio;s sending off. The problem was not bringing on Lichtsteiner and/or Foggia and going for the win after the first sending off. I know Lichtsteiner must have been tired but it was a must win situation and he is easily the player with the most endurance in our team.

I understand you both (Matrim and usampa) but maybe we need to think about having Cruz feed off Maurito's dregs? I mean, I don't think we should just drop Zarate, but that duo is not working as well as it could (as usampa has pointed out).

Foggia can play at right mid and that's where I want to see him tried but as it stands, there is no room for him on the left or in the centre. I still think a 4-3-3 with Zarate on the left, Foggia on the right and Cruz or Rocchi in the centre needs to be tried (Ed will no doubt agree with me ) but where does that leave Matuzalem? Clearly Mauri-Ledemsa-Brocchi would be a nice trio wouldn't it?

I don't care right now for the other players the thing I care is when Ballardini is going to field our second ( if not the best) player !? That guy is amazing me! Honestly!

To play Foggia we'd need to change the entire gameplan, seeing that Foggia fails to adapt, wastes too many balls and dribbles unnecessarily. That one assist to Rocchi and a great goal does not warrant him a place in the starting eleven. He will get his time but against less formidable sides, even with Brocchi in the game there was plenty trouble on that side.

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...seeing that Foggia fails to adapt, wastes too many balls and dribbles unnecessarily

Well, if this is the criteria Zarate shouldn't play either. I am just saying...

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He will get his time but against less formidable sides, even with Brocchi in the game there was plenty trouble on that side.

Maybe this had something to do with us playing a slow, out of position Siviglia as a RB? Anyway, there is no excuse for not using a more adventurous line-up once the opponent was down to ten men. Until Baronio was sent-off Samp had like zero atacks from Siviglia's side. If we don't use Foggia in that type of situation when are we going to use him? When we lead 3-0 against Levski at home in a game only for prestige? See, we aren't going to achieve anything if we are content to play safe and score a goal per game at most.

Don't go there. Comparing Zarate to Foggia is unnecessary. They have different roles and there's no comparing them.

Siviglia as RB was the choice needed to give Licht a deserved rest. And he did just fine there. We could blame the goal on any of the defenders if we want to play the blaming game. Only thing I resent Siviglia doing is trying to cross the ball, when he clearly hasn't the skill necessary to do it properly.

We got a point, we played well, we can look with optimism towards Thursday.

Villareal are in freefall.

Lost 2-1 today having led against Xerez (Who scored the 2nd & 3rd league goals of the season and picked up there 1st win of the season).

They now sit 20th, last in the table.

Again. If we cant beat them at this week moments, something is wrong.

Hopefully they dont replace Valverde before hand (Which is possible).

With the whole 'New coach affect and that'.

@ Sile : When samp were a man down we could have used Foggia.... IMO

LofL wrote:

Kurama_SSLazio wrote:

Does anyone understood why Mauri played 90 mins? Jesus Christ...................

Yes. Did you even watch the game?

Imagine that: I did ! And i`m going to ask you, and those who answered to me after you, why did Mauri played 90 mins ? Did i said "why did he played at all" ? I don`t think so.
And i guess some of us were watching 2 different games. Mauri one of our best players ? Assist ?It`s a joke, right ?

Let`s analyse a little those big things that our dead man did yestarday (Stankevicius made a F1 circuit because of him).
1. Contribution to the goal. That`s a contribution ? It`s a typical ludicrous intervention by him. IF YOU ARE WATCHING LAZIO..you will see that in 99% situations..Mauri comits fault when he enters like that. He can`t anticipate...he can`t attack in a decent way the ball. It was the case yestarday as well.. because it was fault as well, and lucky us that games went on.
2. Assists ? Just look how he passes the ball. That`s an assist from a serie a player? Touching the ball like that ? To me it looked like a deer (and it always looks like that) trying to play hockey. It was the case yestarday as well.
3. Close to the winning goal ? If that is how a serie a/Lazio player strikes then ... our blazon is real low right now.
4. One of our best player.. if not the best ? Did you saw how hard Kolarov tried to fight with 2 players yesterday ? And i wonder why. Who was our dead man left midfielder ? Yes..correct..Stefano Mauri.

Now.. it`s not completly he`s fault. He tried..he wanted..but he`s just in the way when he`s playing there. Even Manfredini was better. He really should be put in center..or not at all.

He was exhausted after 60 mins.

Does the names Meghni or Foggia rings a bell ?

Ballardini: "OK, Stefano its time to wake up"
Mauri: "I cant because im already awake"
Ballardini:"Ok then just be the usual deadwood like always"

Next game we wont see baronio...what a relief....somebody said Foggia and Brocchi can play together...that would be great...

@ Kurama - Mauri was really close with a header at the end, the goalie barely saved it, and his volley was struck good although wide. Maybe he should have controlled it and then fire but hey. And if you're going to dissect the way he "assisted" then remember the way Foggia assisted Rochi vs atalanta where he fell and barely got to the ball.
And Meghni is out injured (unbelievable right, Meghni injured, wtf how is that possible) for 15 days.

You're being overly critical of Mauri. It's not fair taking one player out of 15 and blaming all on him. We don't have anyone better for the left flank at the moment so deal with it.

Mauri was our best player for me today. I must be on a different planet. Maybe having a centre mid who is creating and getting in the box as well as doing some of the defensive dirty work is not some people's idea of a good player. I'm probably wrong.

Roman_Eagle wrote:

@ Sile : When samp were a man down we could have used Foggia.... IMO

Maybe so. But even without him we were creating chances and it's good to have things covered defensively when we all know and see game after game after game how much our defense can suck. When Pazzini scored there were six (6) Lazio players in the box, and Pazzini was all alone to head the ball in the net.
When Samp was reduced to 10 men we had the initiative, the chances, the ball possession, and 30 minutes to play against 10 men. So why put Foggia in? So that he doesn't sit on the bench? He'll get his playing time, I am and always will more concerned with the team performance than with individual wishes.