the great challenge of Lazio

By: j | November 22nd, 2008

As I look back over the Serie A campaign there have been many brilliant surprises and a few disappointments. On the negative side, I’m hoping to see my Sicilian friends Reggina scramble up the table and this nonsense of Roma being near the bottom of the table ends shortly and is never uttered again. Of course on the opposite end of the equation there are many great stories to-date, including the return of Napoli and Lazio to playing with the best of the league.

Lazio has put together a rock solid plan of attack and at its foundation is being very stingy of giving up points at home. This conversely points into Genoa’s great weakness, the ability to play away from Stadio Luigi Ferraris. While on the surface this match features the most explosive attacks in Serie A, Genoa has been far from terrifying away from home with only four goals in six matches. Notions of an fireworks filled match certainly doesn’t have precedent with Genoa on the road and Gian Piero Gasperini is likely to employ a highly defensive stance in this match.

For the match Lazio will be without Boca Junior product Cristian Ledesma and Tricolorii-capped Ştefan Radu who are both in the sin-bin while the Rossoblu are still be missing Giandomenico Mesto and Francesco Modesto to injury.

Key for Genoa is the back-line work of Matteo Ferrari, Giuseppe Biava and Domenico Criscito controlling the powerful Lazio attack with Vélez Sársfield product Mauro Zárate producing at an electrifying pace. Excluding the most recent match Gian Piero Gasperini has preferred to use a more defensive strategy on the road. Given the fall-out of that match I expect a return to that approach with the following lineup:

Genoa
Rubinho
Giuseppe Biava/Salvatore Bocchetti,Matteo Ferrari,Domenico Criscito
Marco Rossi,Thiago Motta,Ivan Jurić,Giuseppe Sculli
Raffaele Palladino, Diego Milito,Andrea Gasbarroni

I will report on it as it concludes.