SuperCoppa Champions League Playoffs Serie A Coppa Italia In for a very busy season. We have SupperCoppa in Shanghai vs. Juve Saturday the 8th. Televised by RAI Uno at 8AM Eastern time. Champions League playoffs vs Leverkusen August 18 2:45 Eastern Time August 26 @2:45 Eastern Time Our Serie A starts vs. Bologna August 23rd 2:45 Eastern Time Coppa Italia we enter in the round of 16 at a later date.
A boring game in which the condition of the pitch made it difficult to play passes on. Really dissapointing to be beaten by two crosses. Juventus are extremely strong defensively and it is difficult to create chances against them.
Yea. We were hoping to see a depleted Juve. But they didnt look any different than the past couple seasons. They are still too good.
Come on Toronto. I know your city is the centre of the universe but there is more than one time zone in Canada!
Not much chances created with Leverkusen defending and with us trying to break them down. They are lucky they still have ten men. Their left back should have been sent off. Berisha has been totally unconvincing. Lacks confidence.
Lazio 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen FT. Good goal from Keita. He really turned the match for us. Papadopoulos should have sent off when he brought Keita down. Bayer Leverkusen are really lucky they finished with all 11 players. Felipe Anderson should have done a lot better right at the end. All in all we take a slender lead and we did not concede an away goal which is a big advantadge. If we score one goal in the away leg then Bayer Leverkusen will need three.
Leverkusen should of had their goal but Lazio should of had their man advantage with a big portion of the game to go, either Wendell or Papadopoulus. A really nice result, 1-0 is something Pioli can work with. I have faith he can do it, but of course not overconfident. Bayer has shown that they can be dangerous and cause havoc. Now we see them with their 12th man. I have to give credit to Shmidt, he really kept Felipe Anderson to a minimum and totally got Candreva to be a non-factor, which i've never seen since hes been at Lazio. He was not dangerous once. Seems like Shmidt has found a good system to keep our wingers at bay.
Yeah, it was the correct call. One of those where you couldn't blame him for missing it, but tip your hat that they got it right. Everyone once in a while, those extra refs pay off. What do you guys think of the Balo rumor? One of the reports I read was that the deal was conditional upon Lazio qualifying, which I thought ridiculous. On what grounds does Balo get to make that kind of demand with his current form?
I do not want him here. He has done nothing over the last season to warrant a place at the club. He is a bad influence and every club he has been with can not wait to get rid of him. We should be promoting players who have less time than usual like Keita who shows what the shirt means and we know what he can do.
Balotelli on loan with the option to throw him away or sign him is a major yes to me. Something tells me Klose or Mauri isnt afraid to give him a beat down like Materazzi did to him at Inter. Klose is a no bullsh!t kind of guy and Mauri is our true captain who loves the club full hearted, although I can see a few in training clashes with Djordovic and Lulic already lol. I think Balotelli coming here has the right conditions for him to settle, although its far from guaranteed with this guy. My arms are fully open to him.
After the bore draw that was Verona-Roma, it is great to see a team play proper exciting football. 2-0 up at the moment against Bologna. Biglia with the first. Kishna with the second on his debut. Let us go for it! Forza Lazio! EDIT: 2-1 Half time. Bologna scored with their first real attack of the game. A long ball and good finish but Radu should have done a lot better. He is becoming a weak link in defence with the amount of times he lets long balls beat him. We should be home and dry already. We are completely dominant.
The second half was more even but we still should have scored. Biglia picked up what looked like a calf injury. First match in and he gets and injury. Annoying. Kishna I thought looked pretty good. Full of running and great finish for the goal. A few mistakes but a good work out for the crucial match against Leverkusen.
We have to finish our chances in front of goal. Keita and Kishna could of had 2 goals a piece. Keita has to hit the net with his power shots. If he can do that, Keita can explode. On top of that Candreva could have a goal with his shots just missing. Instead we scraped a 2-1 win. Whatever the W is what is important. Losing Biglia for Leverkusen is a big blow. Im sure Pioli really feels uncomfortable going into Wednesday without the captain and main centerpiece. This is going to be scary Wednesday, but De Vrij being in the lineup always makes me feel safe. De Vrij must have a big game.
We dominated that match I only caught the 2nd half but we were firmly in control and from what I heard we mad them look like a Serie D team in the first 30 minutes. Still we should have been home and dry, and Bologna had a great chance fall to them late to level. Was nice to see Kishna look so lively, Tare may have found another gem, hope he keeps it up his skill is evident. Milinkovic Savic has yet to adjust ot the speed of Serie A and top level leagues, I give him some time might take a full season for him to acclimate himself so lets be patient. The loss of Biglia is massive, but luckily we can adjust. Don`t think Pioli can stick with the 4-3-3 because Biglia is the orchestrator in that formation, we lose too much if we opt with Cataldi. Think we will go with the 3-4-3 like we did in the finale vs Napoli last season. Line up should look something like this: Berisha Genti-De Vrij-Radu Basta-Onazi-Parolo-Lulic Candreva-Keita-Felipe Anderson Probably sub with Kishna for Keita, Cataldi for Onazi, third sub depends on how the match plays out. Think this formation offers us some serious counter attacking presence, the question is who can deliver the first pass to start the counter. We need to score I don`t think we can keep the CS, but with our attacking options and their shaky backline we must take advantage. A goal can almost kill off the tie. There`s a chance for the 4-5-1 as well.
Down 1-0 at HT. Thought we did well to weather the early storm. Leverkusen had their 2 best chances off what shouldn't have been a corner. We had very good shout for a penalty, Keita had his shirt tugged and Tah tipped the ball away while sprawling with his hand, tough for the ref to get a good look but perhaps the linesman had a better angle. Leverkusen's goal off an error or miscommunication between De Vrij and Berisha, a real unfortunate turn of events as we were beginning to boss the match and BL had zero ideas. Still I felt we needed a goal to advance so lets get it done boys!
Well that's that. Thought we were quite comfortable but the last person you'd expect in De Vrij made a crucial error. Leverkusen really feed off momentum at home and the early goal in the second half took everything out of us. Well done to Leverkusen they've been here before and they made us pay for our mistake. Don't think we are ready for this stage yet but learning experience for our youngsters.