Test topic.
LAZIO News in cooperation with
www.lalaziosiamonoi.it An in-depth interview with Carlo Regno, Ballardini's assistant coach and trusted friend
28.06.2009 11:23 di Federico Farcomeni
Fonte: Corriere dello Sport/LalaziosiamonoiIf you ask Facebook, you better don’t trust the popular social network. Make no mistake because the real Carlo Regno doesn’t hold a big cactus between his legs but he’s rather concentrating himself on the coming season. Tactics and training methods are all unveiled here.
So Mister Regno, what’s the new Lazio will be like?
In Cagliari and Palermo our football entertained many. I definitely hope this will also happen at Lazio: entertainment is our main target. The best thing to hear from our fans after a match would be “today I had fun”.
It looks like it will be a ductile team.
Every decision is up to Ballardini. Lazio will play in the most suitable way. But he will still have the chance to change on the fly, both during the season and during a match. He isn’t a fundamentalist, after all.
You have already taken the field. Season has already started for you…
Yes, we meet up every morning in Ravenna. We scribbled down the schedules for the training sessions. Yes, we are at work. That’s the way we conceive our job (as Lotito said introducing them to the press a couple of weeks ago “ora et labora”). We just take a rest every Monday during the year and we still meet up for lunch or dinner on that day…and we always end up talking about football!
Do you preach any special “commandment”?
The most important thing is that the guys will be available to follow us and will be eager to work and have fun on the pitch.
What’s the work waiting for the squad?
Our training sessions are off-the-shelf: they always last one hour and 15/20 minutes. No more. During the pre-season it will be the same. They are short but very intense. No pauses. During the season though, only Tuesday differs from the other days because trainings last up to one hour and 40 minutes.
80% technique training and the rest will be athletics: is it true?
During the standard week, we will rotate the exercises, which will always be different. We’ll reach our physical goals especially developing the players’ skills.
The pre-season in Auronzo will be the beginning of it all. Which is the new plan conceived for Lazio?
During the first week we’ll train twice every day. Of course the training sessions will still last one hour and 20 minutes but they will be different from the standard-week ones. We have been in Auronzo di Cadore and we had a look at the surroundings. There are many nature trails and we’ll make the most of them every morning, working on the edge of the lake. Every afternoon, indeed, you’ll find us working on the pitch.
Pre-season though will officially start on 5th July.
Yes, we are going to meet in Formello before leaving for Auronzo. The players will only perform some group testing: the first days will only be useful to get to know each other better.
So from 10th July onwards the training will get underway.
As I said, athletics every morning, then we are going to alternate running and strength training every other day. Every afternoon we’ll develop the players’ skills with the ball. In the first week, you won’t see much tactics then. The more we’ll see them play, the better. We won’t consider tactics and playing systems from the very beginning. We’ll discuss about them later on.
When is the first pause expected?
During the first weeks, the players will get two half-days off. More or less they will come on Sunday. Thus, every half-day has been thought to happen after 7 or 8 training sessions. And don’t forget that Lazio will also play some friendlies.
When the summer training ends, what stage will Lazio have reached?
That’s difficult to make a percent. What I can say is that at the end of summer trainings we will have reached a high level, since we have to be ready for the 8th August match against Inter Milan. An Italian Supercup final is not a game you get the chance to play in every day! We’ll try to disclose the times as best as possible.
They said Sacchi was a teacher for Ballardini (even though the former Palermo coach said this is not true) but what about Carlo Regno then?
I’d say Colombia’s Francisco Maturana. His team practiced some easy on the eyes trainings. I was lucky enough to see them live and they really impressed me. When I met him, he explained his philosophy to me and I understood there was a well-organized plan behind all that I saw.
What are the features of your work which can be immediately spotted in a game?
There are bits of many coaches in it, but the most of our work is our of course. We are used to invent, to experiment, to look for some changes or novelties. Sometimes they work out well, some others they don’t so we have to commit ourselves to find some correctives. But in the end the best thing is to see something you had in your mind being put into practice.
Lazio players were used to study the opposition on TV before the games, and after the games the former coach used to correct their mistakes watching the DVDs. Will you use that method too?
No. We are the ones supposed to watch the games. On Tuesdays Ballardini will correct their mistakes directly on the pitch with no support from the images. We don’t use to show the players the past games. And we don’t use to show them the opponents’ games either. If they wish, they can do it themselves though.
Why?
Ballardini cares only about his team. We don’t practice trainings on the basis of other teams’ playing style. Whether there’s a team or another on Sunday, to us it’s the same. Lazio won’t have to fit to others, but it will be the opposite. That’s the way we are used to.
Ballardini works 24/7. As you do. Is it true that he wakes up in the middle of the night in order to study some new strategies?
Yes, it’s true. He wants us to sleep in adjacent rooms. We’ll live in Formello, as you know, and the rooms will be 16-19 feet away one another. Let’s say they are farther than we were used to: once, he would normally knock on the wall…
Trainings behind closed doors. Is it going to be like this all the time?
We’ll practice them always behind closed doors except on Thursday, when the mid-week friendly is due to take place. What I want to state here is that we respect our fans, but that’s just our way of working.
Your purpose is to practice double sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays, isn’t it?
That’s the way it is. But since we’ll be playing in Europe on Thursday, that double session will depend on the schedule.
At the same time Lazio have just launched their new season ticket campaign. The price won’t be as low as last season when you could get a Curva Nord season ticket for just €100. Old season ticket holders though will be awarded with a €175 price: to get this discount you just have to show a season ticket between 1999/00 and 2007/08 seasons. Normal prices range from €220 to €3,600.
Here’s the updated friendlies list:
12th July Auronzo Representative v Lazio (KO 6 pm IT)
18th July Lazio v Universitatea Craiova (Romania; @ Auronzo, 6 pm IT)
22nd July Lazio v SPAL (Lega Pro; @ Auronzo, 6 pm IT)
26th July Lazio v Triestina (Serie B; @ Auronzo, 6 pm IT)
28th July Vicenza v Lazio (Serie B; @ Vicenza) ?
8th August Inter v Lazio (Beijing, 2 pm IT)
13th August Lazio v Osasuna (Rome, Stadio Olimpico, 9 pm IT)
As you could probably argue, why are they going to play all these low-profile friendlies? The answer is quite easy: in order to try more tactics and systems as possible. In this way, the team can concentrate better on their playing level and won’t make too many bad impressions before the season officially start!
BY Federico Farcomeni La Laziosiamo Noi web site
Home 
and Bologna shouldn't really be a problem (except we thought that last season) but the others are tough games all bunched up before Christmas. We'd better start off well again!
