Back on the road

 

Thursday night saw the return of Serie A to our lives after a brief winter break. In the Lazio camp, not much has changed. Fans and journalists alike anticipated an imminent move to the Olimpico from Manchester City's estranged Paraguayan hitman Roque Santa Cruz. So far, this move hasn't materialised. We were sniffing around in the summer for Cruz who, although not the player he once was, is still a top quality striker with lots of experience to add to the bargain. He seems to have found himself at the wrong club at the wrong time, as Man City continue their 'try to sign any player on form in football' policy by acquiring the signature of the Hungarian Edin Dzeko. How he will fare against Premiership defences and competing with the likes of Adebayor, Tevez and Balotelli remains to be seen.

The main argument amongst Laziale continues to be whether we need such an impressive player as Cruz and whether it would start to bring up dressing room issues. Reja's preferred system is now a 4-2-3-1, meaning with Cruz signed we would have Floccari, Cruz, Rocchi and Kozak all fighting for the same position. These players wouldn't be content with a seat on the bench. Earlier targets tipped by the press included Man Utd's Federico Macheda, who has now joined Sampdoria on a 6-month loan. Another player endlessly linked with the Biancocelesti has been Hugo Almeida, who has now moved to Turkey from Werder Bremen. To be honest, I'm happy to see both these players go elsewhere as I think Macheda would prove ineffective (he may well prove me wrong at Samp) and I've never particularly rated Almeida. As for my view on Santa Cruz, I would be too excited to dismiss signing a player of his stature, as long as it doesn't mean a tactical change, let alone a change of team atmosphere. The disaster of last season is a good enough example of what happens with unhappy players. However, Reja has come out saying that he doubts we will make any major changes during the January window, so we will have to play the waiting game for the time being. At the end of the month I intend to produce a piece on the transfer window and what it means for the club, as well as rounding up the major moves around Italy.

So, Serie A results on Thursday were as follows:

Bologna 1-1 Fiorentina

Brescia 1-2 Cesena

Cagliari 0-1 Milan

Genoa 0-0 Lazio

Juventus 1-4 Parma

Inter 3-1 Napoli

Lecce 0-1 Bari

Palermo 3-0 Sampdoria

Roma 4-2 Catania

Udinese 2-0 Chievo

 

It is a testament to the great job we have been doing this season that I can feel disappointed taking a point away from the Marassi. Genoa have a very strong squad and are likely candidates to be fighting for European places at the end of season. Although admittedly the satisfaction of beating them while under Ballardini would have been great. Napoli losing is good news, but with Roma, Inter, Milan and Palermo all winning, it seems that our fight for a Champions League place will go right to the wire. Also worth a mention is Juve's hilariously humiliating hammering (apologies for the cheesy journalism) at home to Parma. I'm sure most people can sit back and have a moment of quiet satisfaction when a result like that comes through, and huge credit to Parma who are proving themselves to be quite a force.

Elsewhere, the Premiership continues to fascinate as Chelsea crash to Wolves, putting Ancelotti's job on the line, Liverpool crash to Blackburn, leaving the unfortunate Hodgson without a job, and West Ham are well and truly battered by Newcastle, surely putting Grant's job well and truly over the line. It is an incredibly open affair at the moment, Ferguson's Man Utd machine again confounding the critics to march on with their 'unbeaten' banner waving above their heads. Man City finally seem to play as a team, credit to former Lazio legend Mancini for this achievement (Tevez probably deserves some sort of medal as well), but the next few months will be the judge of whether they can be considered real title contenders. Arsenal continue to play beautiful football, can this be the season Wenger's young squad finally discover consistency? When it comes to the beautiful game, their North London rivals Spurs are beginning to compete with their neighbours in the entertainment stakes as the inspired Rafael Van der Vaart and Gareth Bale combine to create some of the most dazzling goals I can remember.

On top of all this Anglo-Italian drama, we also have the second round of the Champions League approaching, with some mouth-watering ties such as Milan vs. Spurs, Inter-Bayern and a repeat of the attack-minded clash of Arsenal-Barcelona. All in all, a lot to look forward to in the world of calcio.

I'll be back to analyse tomorrow's match at home to Lecce, an opponent to be underestimated at our own peril. It will be a tough encounter, but hopefully one that we can get a solid three points from and hope to build another good run of form and get 2011 off to a bang.

Forza Lazio!