Archive for the ‘Player Profile’ Category

You know things are bad when; The President of your favorite soccer team is resigned to throwing his hands up to another person to steer the sinking ship that is SS. Lazio. Some can say what they want but a combination of poor results and constant pressure from fans has left Claudio Lotito no choice but to reshuffle the coaching duties. “We chose Reja when it became clear the team needed a radical change of direction to find the strength and hunger to fight. Reja is experienced and a great Coach. Unfortunately this was a necessary choice, but Ballardini remains without doubt a wonderful tactician and a good man.” Wonderful tactician? Hardly! Then again, Lotito was the one who put Ballardini in charge with specific orders not to play specific people, *cough: Ledesma, Pandev, Stendardo, Firmani, Manfredini, and on and on. Surely he had to come up with some nice parting words for the ever so loyal spine-less excuse for a coach.

Thus, we turn the page on one of the darkest chapters in our 110 year history on to a man whose last name rings of foreign land yet speaks in the tongues of the Romans.
Meet our new coach “Il Mister” Edoardo “Edy” Reja. (pronounced R-e-y-a). Hailing from one of the most northern parts of Italy in the province of Gorizia (Boarders with Slovenia) , Edy is a returning ‘newcomer’ I guess it’s fair to say after only coaching in Serie A for 2 seasons previously with Napoli. Reja however is no stranger to the lower levels and the fight for survival, which is something we desperately need. His accolades are few yet throughout his first week in the capital many colleagues from around the peninsula are praising Lazio for swooping Signore Reja from his contract in Croatia. From former manager Dino Zoff to Palermo Fire-cracker President Maurizio Zamparini, Edy’s admirers are on the up-and up. (Now let’s hope for the same in results) It’s important to note that Reja left his post with club Hajduk Split who are languishing in the middle of the pack of the Croatian League.
Like his predecessor Ballardini (Arrigo Sacchi School of Hard Coaching) Reja comes from a successful coaching background in Fabio Capello. The two played together first and foremost in Serie A before Reja called it a career in 1975 and 125 Serie A appearances later.
At this point accolades and warm wishes will only get this blog — this far. We the Canadian Lazio Supporters Community would like to extend our warm wishes to our new trainer yet the honeymoon will only last until Sunday. Like Lotito said we are in a results business and Lazio is desperate for a result against Parma…Badly. Our survival counts on it. With 14 weeks to go, from here on end every match will be like a final for the Bianco-Celeste. Like we’ve done up until now remains the same, Pray and then talk badly when the results don’t arrive. New coach? New results? Speriamo (I hope so)

From being outplayed for 60 minutes, to being insulted with the accusations of simulation via the expulsion of Matuzalem; Lazio seemed destined to drive right off the road and out of contention in the Europa League. That was until a stocky bald gentleman from Venice named Tomasso Rocchi did what he’s done 69 other times for us: SCORE GOALS!!!
Yes Zarate is magic, and Foggia is an artist, but, nobody scores like: Rocchi-GOL. Il Capitano cut through the slow to say the least defense of Villarreal and successfully slid home a crafty first time cross from Kolarov with 1 minute of injury time left to spare. Although it was quite the event having the grandparents around to enjoy the victory capping it all off with the over dramatics that follow my celebrations of kissing the bald head of my nonno/grandfather, I’m sure it wasn’t like the 22,000(disappointing small) attendance of the Stadio Olimpico.
Tommaso Rocchi attributed his added-time winner to “will and determination” after spending 76 minutes on the substitutes’ bench and his adoring fans couldn’t be more grateful! The win pushes us up the standings to 2nd on 6 points, 3 behind surprise leaders Salzburg who continue to be perfect in Group “G” with Villarreal 3 points behind us followed by Levski Sofia still searching for a point. The win basically gives us a deep breath in only for the exhale to be determined on how we fair against the same Submarines of Villarreal in two weeks time when the Biancoceleste travel to Spain. A win in Spain would almost certainly guarantee qualification into the knockout stage while anything less would be more like a punch to the gut or a kick to the balls should we succumb to a loss. This newfound determination led by our Captain can only augment a team lacking in confidence as we still look for our first win in Serie A since AUGUST 30TH! If today proved anything to me it’s that Lazio can be fortunate to realize that they were visibly outplayed for over 3 quarters of the match but can always rely on their clinical finishing up front. Although it seems like a simple equation, for many teams this separates Championship squads from mediocre finishing and when you’re on a string of poor results like Villarreal has it could make the difference in your season. I can only hope Tomasso, that you influence your team with this spirit and come Sunday we will celebrate again the rewards of the determination of SS Lazio.
On a few personal notes, I want to apologize to Theo from Wolverhampton, England who took the time to be on the North Curve. I’ve had quite some difficulty cleaning up the audio from our interview but hopefully we’ll hear from our out-spoken Lazio fan from Britain in the near future. Also bear with the lack of posts in the coming weeks as I’ve taken up a career change that will see yours truly on Canadian radio daily from 12pm-to-4pm EST on CHSC Radio Uno. Once a link becomes available I will post it on the site specifically on Sunday mornings as we discuss everything that is: CALCIO so stay tuned my friends. Forza Lazio!

Usually when a new coach, a new boss or a new employee enters the workplace it usually indicates a fresh start, a clean slate, and certainly no pre-conceived notions.

 

To compliment this notion:  In order to gain the maximum potential of your new surroundings you give everyone the “honey-moon” period where they are all judged by their performance in order to compile the best possible product to export. 

 

Somewhere down the line of the Formello training ground certain stages in preparation of the 2009-2010 season have been “looked-over” we can safely say. 

 

When Davide Ballardini took charge of Lazio back in June he walked into the media room with that air of self-confidence that he attained from the mutual respect shown from the soccer world over time.  A descendent of the old-guard coaching styles of Arrigo Sacchi and the trademark intensity of the dark shades that he dawned for nearly a whole season at Palermo, to say Ballardini was an intimidating figure was an understatement at best.

 

2 Games and 2 wins into the season and Davide has barely broken a sweat it seems.  Finding ways to win big games with as minimal a starting eleven as you can imagine, Lazio is certainly turning the page to a new chapter in their 110 year history.  But before we are about to parade signs, slogans, and songs from Termini across the Tiber I feel the need to judge his team selection. (Because that’s what fans do!)

 

Yes the Societa Sportiva aspect of “SS” Lazio have done the utmost to strain their relationship with Biancoceleste fans across the globe by trying to implement their mentality in these mercenary times of World Football.  They have sent a clear message to the sporting world that they will not be strong-armed by players and agents alike.  But there is such thing as having too much pride and being thick headed.  Claudio Lotito falls somewhere into these lines.  However this should not mean that Ballardini should follow suit.  Yes, he doesn’t want to “cross-the-boss”, but, if Ledesma, and Pandev have gone on record to make themselves available to the squad especially since we look resigned to losing the latter on a Free why not assemble the best possible product to execute and continue the string of good results.  Consistency was our down-fall last year and I can honestly say Ballardini has made the best of the situation at hand, but to deliberately exclude players based on their off-field contract disputes is un-ethical.  According to Lotito, a  President can’t control selections of by their Coach.  Why then should a coach use contracts as leverage to exclude players from training and for that matter league games?

 

At hand are two reliable proven players that are being segregated for something we truly will never know the whole story about.  No disrespect to Roberto Baronio but he’s a starter on a Serie A struggler or a last resort sub on this team at best. 

Regardless of our record we must remember that Serie A is 38 weeks long and is a marathon, NOT A SPRINT, thus if the likes of Baronio and to some extent Mauri who by argument sake was not a regular last season have been given “a second chance” so should the Stendardo’s, the Ledesma’s and yes, even the Goran Pandev’s of the world. 

 

If history has taught us anything it’s that you need the most possible depth in order to compete in Serie A, The Coppa Italia, and European Duty.  We already missed the boat in re-stabilizing an un-tidy defence in the mercato.  Now’s not the time to throw away possible results by excluding the best possible men for the job.

 

Until next time Blue is the colour, Di Mascio is my name But our love for SS Lazio will always remain the same. 

 

e-mail as always dimascio@live.ca or by commenting on the new north curve.com