CCurva was closed for Lazio because of the racist chants during the SuperCoppa and Sampdoria's attendance wasn't that bad, a lot of the front row was empty because of the rain.
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[ITA] Serie A 2013/2014 (55 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dostoevsky
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Napoli were very good tonight. I think this season is going to be interesting for them, because Cavani's loss could've worked in their favour, because I feel like their new arrivals have made the collectively stronger unit. Less dependent on one person. Means, goals from more sources. Callejon, Higuain and even Merten for the little game time he got, all made very good debuts for players coming from a different league. They had a good energy about them. Definite contenders in my view,especially if Juve slips up or lacks the hunger.
Some interesting stuff in Lazio-Udinese.
Lazio had a far better balance about their team than they did against Juve, with Gonzalez playing on the right and Candreva playing behind Klose, so there was more energy in their midfield and Klose wasn't isolated, which were the two key problems they had against Juve.
Anyway, they looked very good in the first half. They attacked through the middle much more than they tended to last season. Lulic and Gonzalez were primarily being used to stretch Udinese out, rather than being asked to really play like wingers, so it was much more about getting Candreva into space between the Udinese defence and midfield to create dangerous situations.
However, Lazio looking good was at least partly down to how poor Udinese were. They left the game far too open and there was space all over the place for Lazio. Udinese's midfield kept getting caught in a horrible position where they weren't deep to protect the defence, but they weren't getting high enough to actually put pressure on Lazio's midfield. This Udinese defence - unlike some they've had in the relatively recent past - isn't going to be good enough or mobile enough to deal with being left exposed in big spaces.
Lazio were cruising until Udinese got their goal out of nothing (which was a huge fuck-up by Lazio's centre backs). That gave Udinese a lift - and their midfield actually started stepping up properly to press Lazio, while Lazio struggled. Don't know if they struggled just because of Udinese doing better, if they started to tire or if they got nervous after losing several goals quickly last week, but they were in trouble from the time of the goal until about 80 mins, when they got fresh legs on, got more control in midfield and generally seemed to calm down a little.
Lazio look like they could have trouble in the middle of their defence this season. Cana is good, but Biava and Dias are another year older and looking very cumbersome, while Novaretti looked pretty unconvincing tonight. The centre backs have never been their strength - they've tended to have excellent protection from midfield to mask their deficiencies - but they look just now like they could be a major weakness.
Lazio had a far better balance about their team than they did against Juve, with Gonzalez playing on the right and Candreva playing behind Klose, so there was more energy in their midfield and Klose wasn't isolated, which were the two key problems they had against Juve.
Anyway, they looked very good in the first half. They attacked through the middle much more than they tended to last season. Lulic and Gonzalez were primarily being used to stretch Udinese out, rather than being asked to really play like wingers, so it was much more about getting Candreva into space between the Udinese defence and midfield to create dangerous situations.
However, Lazio looking good was at least partly down to how poor Udinese were. They left the game far too open and there was space all over the place for Lazio. Udinese's midfield kept getting caught in a horrible position where they weren't deep to protect the defence, but they weren't getting high enough to actually put pressure on Lazio's midfield. This Udinese defence - unlike some they've had in the relatively recent past - isn't going to be good enough or mobile enough to deal with being left exposed in big spaces.
Lazio were cruising until Udinese got their goal out of nothing (which was a huge fuck-up by Lazio's centre backs). That gave Udinese a lift - and their midfield actually started stepping up properly to press Lazio, while Lazio struggled. Don't know if they struggled just because of Udinese doing better, if they started to tire or if they got nervous after losing several goals quickly last week, but they were in trouble from the time of the goal until about 80 mins, when they got fresh legs on, got more control in midfield and generally seemed to calm down a little.
Lazio look like they could have trouble in the middle of their defence this season. Cana is good, but Biava and Dias are another year older and looking very cumbersome, while Novaretti looked pretty unconvincing tonight. The centre backs have never been their strength - they've tended to have excellent protection from midfield to mask their deficiencies - but they look just now like they could be a major weakness.
