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Game of the Week – Lazio vs AS Roma
Remember when Lazio were one of the most exciting and powerful sides in Europe? Having spent over £100million on players at the back end of the 1990s, Sven Goran Eriksson delivered the second Scudetto in the club's history in 1999-2000 before becoming coach of the England national team. Both the club and their ex-coach have followed a similar path since. Everyone still credits them with name recognition, but it is a while since either have produced something tangible that could be classed as an achievement. Lazio did finish 3rd in 2006-07, but this was against a very strange backdrop of a post-Calciopoli Serie A minus Juventus as a starter. With Edoardo Reja's side four points clear after nine ahead of the Derby Della Capitale on Sunday, there is a sense that even if this Lazio is less flamboyant than the side of Veron and co. a decade ago, there is some pride to be taken from wearing celeste in Rome once more.
In many ways, the story of Lazio's impressive start is one that would not make sense were the game played on paper. Reja has spent three decades as a coach at various levels, but only a small fraction of this touchline career has been in Serie A, and of this, there has been basically nothing at what you would class as an elite level. That his breakthrough came aged 61 as coach of Napoli some three years ago tells you that his arrival as a top-tier operator on the peninsula has been a slow burn and a work long in progress. His team is effective and has thus far got results without leaving a lasting mark on the mind of the romantic purist. However, four clean sheets in the last eight, five straight wins and four in a row on the road tell their own story. Trips to Fiorentina, Chievo, Bari and Palermo have all been successfully negotiated, with only one goal conceded in the process. Fernando Muslera looks like a world-class goalkeeper following on from an excellent World Cup with Uruguay, and his impressive shot-stopping ability and command of the penalty area have been a massive contributor to the solid defensive platform on which players like Hernanes have been able to go forward with confidence. The former Sao Paolo star has been a revelation in Serie A, scoring two goals and being a creative influence in others, while getting off an impressive 32 shots in nine games. A talented player at the top of his form, he is capable of a moment of brilliance that could swing it their way on Sunday.
It may take such a flash of inspiration to beat this Roma side, or then it may not. That they won in Basel in midweek would appear a positive sign, but then their poor home loss to the same opposition indicates how much of a jekyll and hyde team the Giallorossi have been this season. They have overcome Inter, but been crushed at Cagliari and beaten at Brescia, two outcomes that never looked likely during the second half of last season when they went 24 unbeaten. Roma need to find a measure of consistency and stability in a fairly rapid fashion, before the prospect of competing at the business end of the league becomes something strictly for the other side of Rome. The fortunes of your rivals should not play a part in decisions at a club but inevitably they do. Claudio Ranieri will know defeat on Sunday will put them 13 points behind a side who have made a habit of finishing beneath them since the middle of the last decade. This will surely be a cause for grave concern – almost as much as the suspended Francesco Totti's prediction of a Lazio win.
This being a derby game, it is always hard to call. If the 'decent' Roma turn up, then all three results are possible and a draw is indeed likely. However, if the Roma who crumbled in Sardinia and rolled over at home to Basel turns up on Sunday, then a 2-0 win for the nominal 'hosts' should come fairly simply. It really is up to Ranieri's players not to let their coach and themselves down.
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