Lazio’s superb start to the season was born out of adversity.
The team from the capital are currently the sole leaders in Serie A but they were off to a false start as in their debut fixture they were undone by two second-half Sampdoria goals.
In that game, Lazio coach Edy Reja lost his temper and was ordered off his bench following a controversial penalty awarded to the home side that opened the way for Samp’s 2-0 win.
Another bleak season looked in the offing for the suffering Lazio fans, but, fast forward five weeks and Reja’s team is perched at the top of the table with 13 points.
Last weekend, Lazio played a tactically-disciplined match to beat Brescia 1-0 and record a fourth win in their last five outings. More satisfying for them, perhaps, is that city rivals Roma are misfiring badly this season.
Reja has no particular ambitions for his team.
The Biancocelesti flirted with relegation for most of 2009-10 and it was only towards the end of the campaign that they succeeded in avoiding the drop.
Last year, Lazio were off to a promising start when they shocked Inter 2-1 in the Super Cup clash. Two victories in the league followed but their woes started with a 0-2 home defeat to Juventus. From then, it was all downhill for then coach Davide Ballardini.
Under the ex-Cagliari mentor, Lazio could only manage 22 points from 23 games and when club owner Claudio Lotito fired Ballardini to appoint Reja no one really took it by surprise.
Lotito’s gamble paid off. Lazio improved significantly, collecting 24 points in 15 outings and finishing in a trouble-free spot in the final standings.
In the close season, Lazio kept faith in Reja and also made some shrewd signings to strengthen his squad.
The transfer of Anderson Carvalho Hernanes is emblematic.
The 25-year-old midfielder was persistently linked with a move to Milan or Inter but in summer Lotito acted swiftly to capture the Brazilian at a relatively bargain price.
Same with 31-year-old defender Andre Dias – a relatively unknown, albeit accomplished, defender, also from Brazil. He was signed from Sao Paolo for a modest fee and made Lazio’s rearguard look more impregnable.
But, perhaps, Lazio’s best move was to persuade Christian Ledesma to pledge his future to the club by signing an extension to his contract until 2015.
Last season, Ledesma and striker Goran Pandev refused to sign new deals with Lazio because both intended to move elsewhere once they became free agents.
Unhappy with this situation, Lotito froze both players out of the squad. Pandev, eventually, joined Inter but midfielder Ledesma opted to stay.
The way forward
Reja is an influential figure. His team is firing on all cylinders and the players are brimming with confidence. Unlike other clubs who spent big in the close season, Lazio do not have the extra pressure to make a top-four finish or win titles at all costs.
Others might think differently though.
Fabio Capello, for instance, believes Lazio have all cards in place to make a top-four finish. The England coach was a former team-mate of Reja during their playing days with Spal.
But Reja is a wise man. He continues to play down Lazio’s achievements, insisting that it is premature to decipher the team’s true potential.
According to him, these are still early days and there are other teams better equipped than Lazio that can aspire for lofty targets. His team, he insists, should be ranked among the underdogs.
Serie A statistics
0 draws for Brescia so far as Giuseppe Iachini’s side have won three and lost three. Napoli, Chievo and Sampdoria are still undefeated on the road and Palermo are in search of their first home win. Brescia are the only team with a 100 per cent home record.
1st win of the season for Udinese who left it late to hand Cesena a third straight defeat (following upsets to Catania 0-2 and Napoli 1-4). Milan continued to show signs of revival as they extended their positive run to four games (two wins and two draws) courtesy of a 1-0 win at Parma.
2 penalties were awarded by referees last weekend. Paulo Barreto made no mistake from the spot for Bari. Elsewhere, Adem Ljajic saw his 64th-minute spot-kick blocked by Palermo custodian Salvatore Sirigu. Of the 22 penalties given so far, four went off target.
3rd defeat from as many away matches for Roma who conceded two late goals to suffer their first defeat at Napoli’s San Paolo since May 1997 (1-0). This was Napoli’s first home win of the season following a 2-2 draw with Bari and a 1-3 home upset to Chievo. Lazio, meanwhile, extended their positive run to five games thanks to a hard-fought victory over Brescia. Lazio’s most recent home defeat against Brescia was in January 2004 (0-1).
4 draws and one defeat are all Sampdoria have to show from their last five outings. On Sunday, they forfeited a 1-0 half-time lead to share the spoils with Bologna. This was Samp’s third draw in as many away fixtures. Palermo extended their unbeaten run to three games (two away wins and one home draw) by beating Fiorentina for the fourth time in their last eight league visits.
14 goals were scored on the sixth day. Foreigners contributed with seven and there were seven first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 141. Two own goals were committed – Daniele Portanova (Bologna), in favour of Sampdoria, and Juan (Roma), in favour of Napoli. Edinson Cavani (Napoli) and Samuel Eto’o (Inter) are the leading scorers with five goals each.