Napoli vs. Lazio: Finally, A Home Game

By: Neil | November 20th, 2009

After two consecutive road games and an international break, Napoli will return to the San Paolo for the first time in quite a while. The opponents are a Lazio team currently in 16th place in the table. Napoli has good news on the injury front, as the only significant problem is Fabiano Santacroce who is recovering from a torn meniscus. Lazio are famously without Goran Pandev and Cristian Ledesma, and more on that after the jump.

I don’t follow Lazio very closely, at least not as closely as some other Serie A teams, but if someone asked me the most interesting calcio story this season I might suggest the goings on at Lazio. After a season in which Lazio won the Coppa Italia, President Lotito froze out key players Goran Pandev and Cristian Ledesma over a contract dispute. I’m not sure exactly who started this or what the dispute is, but the two players are now suing the club and results thus far suggest that Lazio desperately need those two players in the lineup and contributing.

Lazio got off to a great start, winning the Super Coppa over league champions Inter and winning their first two league games. It appeared that Lotito’s move was smart and that Lazio were better off without the players labelled as dissidents. 13 weeks into the season Lazio are now struggling big time and this could be Ballardini’s last game in charge. Lotito might have won the battle, but it looks like he lost the war. For those of you who like irony, one of the rumoured replacements is former Napoli boss Edy Reja, who was sacked last season after Lazio defeated Napoli at the San Paolo.

The bottom line is that Lazio are struggling, and there doesn’t seem to be a quick fix anywhere. Sometimes teams in turmoil can be tough to play against. Either the team is playing to save the manager’s job, like Catania recently under Gianluca Atzori, or the team is playing to impress the new manager, like Napoli in their last five matches. But in this case there seems to be very little motivating Lazio right now, and it’s hard to see why things might change for the next game. Napoli drew Lazio on the schedule at just the right time.

Former Lazio boss Delio Rossi, ironically a candidate for the Napoli seat after former Napoli manager Edy Reja was fired, has spoken out on his former club and Ballardini. Rossi has a great reuptation in many Serie A circles, and it appears Lazio made another mistake by not holding on to Rossi. Once again, Lotito lost the war in order to win another personal battle. That’s my take on Lazio, and for any Lazio fans that read this please feel free to correct me on errors or if I’ve misinterpreted the situation.

One note on former Lazio striker Goran Pandev: in a recent friendly against Canada he converted two penalties and was part of a Macedonia offence that pretty much played Canada off the pitch in the first half (3-0 final). Of course there are many nights where Canada is not a formidable opponent, but it seems like Pandev still has an awful lot to offer prospective teams.

Napoli on the other hand seems to be getting stronger every week. The recent 0-0 draw with Catania could be a minor glitch as Napoli continues its revival under Mazzarri. Enthusiasm is so high that around six or seven of the non-internationals reported back to training a day earlier than required. Campagnaro and Zuniga are healthy (until Campagnaro breaks down again) and Hamsik’s star continues to rise.

Even Lazezzi is happier, although in a recent interview he made no promises about his long term future other than seeing out the remainder of his contract. I think he loves the city and the fans, but he’ll fly away somewhere else because someone in management made a contract promise that wasn’t followed up.

In other news, Walter Gargano became the third Napoli player to qualify for the World Cup after De Sanctis and Hamsik. Uruguay defeated Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate to claim the final Americas berth. Gargano sat on the bench in the 2nd leg 1-1 draw in Montevideo but as long as he’s healthy he’ll be going to South Africa. Quagliarella still has a chance to make the Italy squad, but he’ll have to pick up his game pretty quickly.

In tranfer rumours Napoli and Liverpool are in a Mexican standoff for the services of Andrea Dossena. Both sides are doing an awful lot of talking but neither side will make even a small move to get the action started. Napoli, Dossena, and Liverpool all want the move to go through. Reports say Liverpool is not willing to sell for less than the 7 million they paid. Dossena would be a good addition but I like how Napoli is holding out to get the best possible deal.

Napoli is also after Udinese’s Gokhan Inler and rising star Antonio Candreva who is on loan at Livorno. These are initial rumours and there’s really nothing concrete about them.

Here is the projected Napoli lineup for Lazio:

De Sanctis – Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Contini – Maggio, Gargano, Cigarini, Zuniga – Lavezzi, Hamsik – Quagliarella

I don’t know about TV for this game, so the best option might be a live internet stream. Since I missed the Catania match and a large chunk of the Juve match it will be nice to sit down and watch an entire Napoli game start to finish. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy the match as much as I will, and once everything is said and done there will be the usual report before a trip to Parma next weekend. Forza Napoli!