Will Lazio continue to impress under Stefano Pioli and will Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah help Roma win the Serie A title for the first time in 14 years?
Lazio
In a summer of transition for many of Italy’s top clubs, Lazio have been inconspicuous. They were the surprise package of last season, with an eight-match winning run between February and April propelling them into contention for a top-three finish and Champions League football – something that was eventually secured with a stunning 4-2 away win over fellow hopefuls Napoli on the final day of the season. It was the least that Lazio deserved; outside of Juventus they had been Serie A’s form team of 2015 and, without spending extravagantly, had built a strong, organised team capable of competing with anyone on their day.
This theme of steady progression has continued over the summer months. Rather than wild pursuits of star names, Lazio have brought in talented, affordable young players with vast potential. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the winner of the Bronze Ball at the Under-20 World Cup this year, was signed from Genk for €10m, while the promising pair Wesley Hoedt (free transfer from Twente) and Ricardo Kishna (€4m from Ajax) arrived from Holland. If Lazio are to win another Scudetto this season, it will be achieved in a different manner to their success in 2000, brought about by Sergio Cragnotti’s lavish spending on proven top-class players.
Much of the credit for Lazio’s sustainable transfer strategy must go to the club’s sporting director, Igli Tare. The Albanian spent his final two seasons as a player with the club before moving into his new position, where he has been responsible for co-ordinating the signature of many of the players that make up the team today, including Stefan de Vrij, Lucas Biglia, Marco Parolo and Felipe Anderson, each of whom cost under €10m in transfer fees. The transfer policy supplied the individual talent but still required good organisation, which is where coach Stefano Pioli comes in.
Pioli was appointed last summer after being sacked by relegation-threatened Bologna in early 2014. His selection was generally considered uninspiring, but he managed to knit together a wholesome unit from the players available to him. He showed tactical flexibility and positive man-management to get the best out of previous under-performers, such as the aforementioned Anderson.
The successful synergy of Tare’s expertise in the transfer market and Pioli’s coaching skill allowed Lazio to return to the top of Serie A last season, reach the Coppa Italia final and make the Champions League qualifying rounds. To reach the group stages, Lazio will have to negotiate a tough play-off with Bayer Leverkusen, though they have the advantage of going to Germany with a 1-0 lead gained in the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday. If Lazio go through, they would be entering Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 2007.
The coach: Stefano Pioli
Stefano Pioli was largely unheard of outside Italy when he was appointed last summer. He began coaching in his mid-30s, taking charge of Bologna’s youth team before forging a career improving the fortunes of Serie B sides such as Salernitana, Grossetto, Piacenza and Sassuolo. Despite a strong reputation in Italy’s second tier, he struggled to leave much of an imprint on Serie A with either Parma or Chievo.
However, Pioli finally made his breakthrough with Bologna, guiding the Rossobluto consecutive safe mid-table finishes after years spent towards the bottom end of Serie A. Then, a downturn in form at the start of his third season in charge prompted his sacking last January before Lazio picked up the phone last summer.
His €600,000 salary meant that Pioli was the fifth lowest-paid coach in Serie A last season, which reflected the low level of expectation surrounding his hiring. He quickly dispelled any notions that he wasn’t up to the task by instilling a level of organisation that enabled Lazio to compete on even terms with the best in Italy, achieving their highest league position in seven years.
Key player: Antonio Candreva
Antonio Candreva is a player many know about but few truly appreciate. Heseems to consistently remain under the radar, perhaps because he has never quite established himself at any of Italy’s traditional top clubs.
Candreva spent six months with Juventus in 2010 but failed to leave enough of an impression to earn a longer deal. From there he had a difficult time with Parma and a short spell at Cesena before arriving in Rome on the last day of the January transfer window in 2012. Since becoming a Lazio player, Candreva has rarely looked back.
With his quick changes in tempo and direction coupled with a desire to beat his opposite man, Candreva has become a Lazio favourite and a regular in the Italy team. Indeed, it was his cross for Mario Balotelli that inflicted defeat upon England at last summer’s World Cup. He’s a regular source of attacking inspiration for his club and is elemental to Pioli’s tactics.
One to watch: Filip Djordjevic
With Miroslav Klose celebrating his 37th birthday this summer, Lazio have had to consider replacing the enduring striker with a younger model. This issue became more pressing when he came off at half-time during Tuesday’s win over Leverkusen with a suspected muscular tear.
Filip Djordjevic joined Lazio from Nantes on a free transfer last summer and scored nine goals in 26 appearances during his first year in Italian football. He was inches away from becoming a hero in the Coppa Italia final defeat to Juventus. With the match tied at 1-1 in the early stages of extra-time, Djordjevic received the ball to feet outside of the penalty box, turned and whipped a left-footed strike that thudded off of both posts before rebounding out to safety. Lazio eventually lost the match, but Djordjevic will be determined to ensure that near miss doesn’t define him.
The Serbian striker will miss the start of this season as he is recovering from an injury, but once fully fit he will be expected to take on the responsibility of ruffling opposition defenders’ feathers in Klose’s absence. With the customary settling in period now over, Djordjevic will be under pressure to hit double figures in his second season with Lazio. His failure to do so could be costly with so few genuine striking alternatives at the club.
Tactics
Pioli showed enough evidence of adaptability last season to suggest that his Lazio side will be well equipped to deal with the rigours of competing both domestically and on the continent. He switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation for the Coppa Italia final against Juventus without much prior warning. The formation was relatively successful, allowing Lazio to press high and restrict Juventus’ options passing out from the back.
Pioli may adopt that system again at some point this season, but generally speaking he will use a variant of a rough 4-5-1 shape. The five in midfield will either take the form of one defensive midfielder, two central midfielders and two wingers, or a double pivot with one advanced midfielder and two wingers. Against Leverkusen, Lazio lined up in the former shape, with Lucas Biglia at the base of midfield and Ogenyi Onazi and Marco Parolo further forward.
It’s sometimes difficult to properly assess exactly how Lazio will line up due to the interchangeable nature of these systems but one constant is that Pioli likes to have both Felipe Anderson and Candreva behind a lone striker. The pair are given a certain amount of creative license, often switching wings and occasionally drifting inwards.
Defensively, the full-backs – usually Dusan Basta and Stefan Radu – aim to congest space by moving infield when Lazio do not have the ball, making the defensive line more horizontally compact, before bursting forward down the flanks when Lazio win possession. Basta is particularly effective at this and is a regular source of attacking width on the right.
The starting line-up will probably be the same as last season, with the new additions likely to spend the majority of their first few months with the club on the bench, learning where they fit into the system. As a result, Lazio look settled and have less work than any of their rivals to do in integrating new players, though they must resolve the future of Biglia as soon as possible. The Argentinian has been reportedly close to leaving the club and, should he do so, there will be a gaping chasm at the heart of Lazio’s midfield that must be filled if they are to remain as effective as they were last season.
Roma
The 2014-15 season promised much for Roma. Their main title rivals, Juventus, had lost Antonio Conte, the coach who steered them to three consecutive Scudetti, while they themselves had strengthened by bringing in experienced, high-calibre players in Ashley Cole and Seydou Keita as well as young talent in Kostas Manolas and Juan Iturbe. With Kevin Strootman also set to return from injury, there was optimism that Romacould seriously push Juventus, if not finally unseat the reigning champions.
Everything started swimmingly. Roma won their opening five league games before a late goal saw them lose 3-2 in the Juventus Stadium. In the Champions League, they thrashed CSKA Moscow and earned a valuable point away to Manchester City. And then the wheels gradually came off.
A catastrophic 7-1 reverse at home to a vibrant Bayern Munich side was a serious comedown; suddenly the positivity fostered in previous games had eroded. The defence began to look vulnerable and the attack toothless as Roma put consecutive wins together on just three occasions throughout the rest of the Serie A season, with none of those sequences lasting longer than three games.
To make matters worse, Strootman suffered another damaging injury in January and missed the rest of the campaign, while several of the exciting new signings, particularly Cole and Iturbe, underwhelmed.
Eventually Roma secured second place thanks to a 2-1 win in May’s Derby della Capitale, but their league performance had declined from the previous year and they had sunk without trace in European competition, bowing out of the Champions League at the group stage before losing to Fiorentina in the Europa League round of 16.
Despite a poor second season in charge, coach Rudi García has held on to his job, at least for the time being. His squad has been bolstered by the arrivals of three new attacking players in Edin Dzeko, Mohamed Salah and Iago Falque – a clear acknowledgement of the Giallorossi’s deficiency in the final third last season. Roma drew 13 times in Serie A last season and the primary reason for that was a lack of cutting edge. They’re not short of quantity or individual quality up front; instead the issue for García is finding a functional forward line amid the wealth of options.
The coach: Rudi García
Rudi García found himself under pressure towards the end of last season and there was some speculation as to whether he would still be in charge come this weekend. The Frenchman has survived but he will be expected to deliver an improved challenge to Juventus.
After winning a French league and cup double with Lille, García has as yet failed to deliver silverware for Roma. He has installed a neat, possession-based style of play, but his team lacked punch last season in a Scudetto bid that faltered early. As a result, García must reconfigure his attack.
The addition of Dzeko suggests that García will modify his 4-3-3 formation to include an out-and-out striker, which could mean Roma legend Francesco Totti spending more time on the bench than on the pitch. García may find this decision unpopular but it is vital that he injects greater dynamism into his attack.
Whatever García does, he must find a more effective system. Both Milan giants, as well as Napoli and Lazio, have added to their squads over the summer, meaning Roma will probably need to improve just to keep hold of their second-place spot.
Key player: Kostas Manolas
After some good performances for Greece at the 2014 World Cup, Kostas Manolas left his home country and Olympiakos for Roma, joining the club for a fee of €15m. Roma have made a habit of buying and selling centre-backs for profit in recent years, with Marquinhos and Mehdi Benatia making the club millions. Manolas is unlikely to follow down the same path; he’s far too important.
Manolas handled his first season at the heart of the Roma defence with consummate ease. With the necessary basic defensive attributes including aerial ability, strength and positioning, combined with technique and athleticism, the 24-year-old is one of the finest central defenders around today.
Arsenal, among others, have reportedly shown serious interest in him over the last six months but Roma, having already allowed Alessio Romagnoli and Mapou Yang-Mbiwa to leave, would be hostile to any bid for their Greek star. Instead, expect Manolas to lead their defensive line for years to come.
One to watch: Mohamed Salah
For whatever reason, Chelsea just did not fancy Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian, signed from Basle for a fairly substantial fee, was given little opportunity before being loaned out midway through last season to Fiorentina as part of a deal that took Juan Cuadrado the other way. The deal may not have worked out perfectly for Cuadrado or Chelsea, but it did for Salah, who thrived in his six-month loan spell in Florence.
Fiorentina then wanted to extend Salah’s stay, only for the player to reject the notion of returning to the Artemio Franchi. There then ensued a protracted transfer saga as Internazionale revealed their interest, only for Roma to steal in and sign the winger on loan with an option for a permanent deal.
As a left-footed inverted winger, Salah will face competition at Roma from Iturbe and fellow new signing Falque, though with his explosive turn of pace and attacking moxie, he should play and should provide an injection of vim into a forward line that appeared staid at times last season.
Tactics
Edin Dzeko’s arrival gives a clear indication of the way Roma are likely to line up this season. While in recent years the club has often utilised a 4-3-3 with a false nine – Totti – flanked by inverted wingers, they now look likely to play the same system but with Dzeko, a more orthodox centre-forward, as the focal point of the attack.
Salah will probably start on Dzeko’s right, aiming to cut in on to his favoured left foot and cause havoc with his speed and incision. Roma have a plethora of options for the other attacking spot, including Adem Ljajic, Iturbe, Falque, Gervinho and Victor Ibarbo. Ljajic may get the nod on account of his ability to drift inside from the left and find dangerous pockets of space.
On paper the midfield looks good, but the harsh reality is that only Radja Nainggolan was at the top of his game last season. Strootman continued to suffer with injury, Daniele de Rossi looked unwieldy and Miralem Pjanic failed to find his best form.
Alessandro Florenzi could be used in central midfield to add vigour, though he is currently needed just as much, if not more so, at right-back, due to the paucity of quality there; Maicon is well past his best and Vasilis Torosidis is really no more than a decent squad player. Roma also lack on the other side of the back four, where Jose Holebas was surprisingly shunted off to Watford after a solid season and Ashley Cole terminated his contract.
Worryingly, Roma also lack depth in central defence after selling off Romagnoli and Yanga-Mbiwa. Leandro Castan is back from a long-term injury but, Manolas aside, there are currently no other options in this area. In their recent 6-4 friendly victory over Sevilla, Roma looked bright going forward, full of attacking interchanges and opportunism, but they were not so clever at the back.
They must reinforce their shallow backline if they seriously intend to challenge for the Scudetto and compete in the Champions League, something recent reports have suggested Roma realise and are close to addressing by signing Stuttgart’s Antonio Rudiger.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário