Lazio 1-1 Juventus

Courtesy of Flickr/ mbah_pascal

Lazio held Juventus to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico despite Gianluigi Buffon’s first half dismissal.

 

Edy Reja made several changes to his starting XI. Miroslav Klose led the line with Hernanes and Antonio Candreva playing behind the German international. Luis Cavanda and Abdoulay Konko played as wingbacks, while Cristian Ledesma and Lucas Biglia formed a midfield duo.

Antonio Conte recalled Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente upfront, while Paul Pogba, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kwadwo Asamoah took up their traditional positions in midfield.

Both sides created little from open play – Juventus pounced when opportunities were presented, while Reja’s cautious approach prevented Lazio from increasing their lead. A draw was a fair result.

Juventus play out of the back

Juventus found it relatively easy to move forward as a unit due to Lazio’s lack of press. Conte’s back three were free to push forward and play passes amongst one another because they were often in 3v1 situations against Klose. Occasionally, Hernanes joined Klose and pressed Conte’s defenders, but there was always a spare man, while Marchisio dropped into a deeper position to receive the ball.

For the most part, Reja’s men dropped into their half and focused on maintaining a compact shape in midfield. Conte’s backline were free to play forward passes into midfield, thus leading to Juventus’ superiority in possession.

Lazio without the ball

Despite sustaining a mere 38% of possession in the first half – with a man advantage – Lazio went into half-time with a one goal lead, containing Juventus’ main threats. Reja’s men dropped into a 4-5-1 without the ball, and encouraged their wingbacks to quickly close down Lichtsteiner and Asamoah.

Lazio’s narrow shape limited space in central areas, meaning Pogba and Vidal struggled to influence the match from midfield. The main issue Juventus encountered was service to their strikers – Llorente was a peripheral figure in the first half, despite being involved in Juventus’ only legitimate goal-scoring opportunity, and Tevez found it difficult to receive the ball. Biglia and Ledesma protected the back four, while Lorik Cana and Giuseppe Biava also closed down the Argentine when he received the ball.

Reja’s reactive approach was beneficial in the first half as Lazio nullified Juve’s attack. Shockingly, Lazio was in the lead at half-time courtesy of Candreva’s spot kick that was initially created through Konko’s magnificent through ball to Klose – which led to Buffon’s sending off.

11v10

Buffon’s sending off forced Juventus to reshuffle, and Conte sacrificed Asamoah, thus leaving him without a left-sided player. Juve became a 4-4-1, with Tevez drifting to the left and Ogbonna playing as a left back.

The onus was on Juve to attack, but with Lazio maintaining a man-advantage, one would expect the home-side to dominate possession. Conte’s men tried to play through the middle, and with Tevez slowly growing into the match, Juventus’ buildup play improved. With Ogbonna playing as a make-shift left back, Marchisio drifted infield so Lichtsteiner could push forward to provide width.

There was no significant change in either sides approach for the remainder of the first half – Juve dominated possession but struggled to create legitimate goal-scoring opportunities, whereas Lazio sat narrow, defended deep, and opted to launch quick counters.

Tevez/Hernanes

The games most proactive players subsequent to Buffon’s sending off were Tevez and Hernanes. Both players flourished in different roles – Tevez worked off Llorente as an energetic second striker, whereas Hernanes sprung quick counter-attacks when Juventus conceded possession.

Tevez’s influence on the match increased when Juve went down to 10 men. The Argentinian striker was positioned on the left, but when Juve won possession he moved into spaces on the field that Lazio’s defensive six wouldn’t drift into.

Now, Tevez linked play with the midfield, allowing them to move into key areas, but the Juventus striker also posed a goal threat around the 18-yard box. His main contribution was the buildup to Llorente’s goal – Tevez received Marchisio’s pass in space and distributed the ball wide to Lichtsteiner, and his back heel played in the Swiss wingback, thus leading to the cross that Llorente nodded into the far corner.

Hernanes offered a different threat – his quick nimble feet allowed the Brazilian to evade challenges and drive forward, and he was  the main outlet on the counter-attack. On two separate occasions Hernanes ran at the heart of the Juventus defence before playing balls out wide, but Candreva wasted both attempts.

The Brazilian summed up Lazio’s approach – he was disciplined without the ball, but crafty and direct on the break. Both men provided the invention that the match lacked, but their teammates were unable to make the difference.

Second half

Juventus continued to dominate possession for large portions of the second half, but their approach was slightly different. Conte instructed his men to utilize Llorente and play long balls into the Spaniard. There best chance stemmed from Bonucci’s direct ball into the striker, who held it up for Vidal, and the Chilean played in an onrushing Tevez, but his near-post shot was pushed away for a corner.

Majority, of Juventus’ attacks were now based on the counter, but their transitions were slow, and their passing around the final third was poor. Nonetheless, for a side that played with a man advantage for the entire second half, Lazio disappointed. When they managed to sustain possession in Juventus’ third, they failed to get behind or penetrate Conte’s organized side.

Apart from Hernanes’ involvement on the break, the home side was presented with two opportunities to win the match. In the span of four minutes, Klose got on the end of two Ledesma free-kicks: the first header led to a sensational save from Marco Storari, while the second attempt was offside, yet Storari caught the German’s tame effort.

Reja made two substitutions in the half, introducing Alvaro Gonzalez for Cavanda and Keita Balde for Candreva. Keita provided a pacy direct threat in the final moments of the match – here, he constantly ran at Lichtsteiner, and Klose played the Spanish-born Senegalese striker in on the break, but his curling effort hit the post.

Both sides were sloppy in possession, and they adopted direct approaches that nearly paid off. However, the match lacked guile, and creativity in the final third, but neither side was willing to gamble, thus leading to an uneventful second half.

Conclusion

Juventus’ poor run of form at the Stadio Olimpico continues in a match that possessed two distinct features. Lazio’s reactive approach contained Juventus for large portions of the match, but their transitions were disappointing. Meanwhile, Conte’s decision to play through Llorente in the second half nearly secured maximum points.

“We knew Juve came forward with one striker who’d flick it on for the other, so we worked on closing down those vertical lines. There’s also Arturo Vidal who moves down the right and Andre Dias was ear-marked to close down whoever went down that line,” Reja said.

“Perhaps we should’ve done better on the counter-attack. Marco Storari also performed some extraordinary saves.”

Buffon’s sending off changed the course of the game, but the likelihood of this match being a spectacle was very low, based on Reja’s approach. The draw leaves Roma six points behind the league leaders, and they’ll ironically meet Conte’s men at the Stadio Olimpico on the final day of the season, where Juventus can avenge last week’s shortcomings.

 

Adem Ljajic’s movement steers Roma past Lazio

The summer sales of Erik Lamela, Pablo Osvaldo and Bojan Krkic left many questioning Roma’s front-line heading into the new season, however a certain Serbian attacker is slowly silencing those critics.

 

Adem Ljajic’s arrival in the second half turned the tide for the Giallorossi as they earned their 48^th Rome derby victory. Prior to the Serbian attacker’s introduction, the match looked certain to end in a draw. Vladimir Petkovic’s cautious approach saw his side sit off in their half, maintaining a solid foundation in a 4-1-4-1, but this left lone striker Miroslav Klose isolated upfront. Alvaro Gonzalez and Hernanes pressed Kevin Strootman and Miralem Pjanic, leaving Daniele De Rossi free to play passes, but the Italian didn’t have a significant impact on the match.

Due to Lazio’s ability to contain Roma’s midfield, Rudi Garcia’s attacking three didn’t receive many opportunities to cause havoc in the final third. Gervinho scampered down the flanks lacking quality in the final third – while Francesco Totti was forced to drop deep into midfield to receive the ball and Alessandro Florenzi was a limited option on the opposing flank. Frankly, it was a poor half from both sides that resulted in no shots on target, minimal Lazio attacking threats – besides Antonio Candreva and Senad Lulic bombing down the flanks – and Garcia’s men unable to get behind the Lazio backline.

Six minutes into the second half, Garcia decided to introduce Ljajic for the disappointing Florenzi, and this is when Roma – specifically Totti – grew into the match.

Ljajic, celebrating his 22^nd birthday, drifted around the final third linking play on each flank – he found pockets of space in key areas to receive the ball, and dropped deeper into midfield to provide an extra passing outlet. The Serbian attacker provided an attacking element – his immaculate off-the-ball movement – that freed up space for his teammates to slot into.

Maicon and Federico Balzaretti surged forward to help create overloads, and Totti, who had himself a frustrating first half, found spaces in wide areas to provide Roma with the creativity they lacked prior to Ljajic’s arrival.

Balzaretti and Totti benefitted from the Serbian’s second half cameo the most, as the Roma captain was no longer the creative focal point, while Balzaretti had space to attack due to Lazio’s narrow shape. And it took 11 minutes for the duo to combine as Totti drifted to the right flank and played a lovely ball to the advancing Roma fullback, but he drove his shot off the post. Seconds later, Totti played a short corner, received the ball back, and delivered a lovely cross to an unmarked Balzaretti, and this time the Italian put the ball past Federico Marchetti.

Petkovic brought on an extra striker, two midfielders, and altered his formation, but an Andre Dias red card – minutes after his introduction – ended Lazio’s chances of snagging an equalizer. Nevertheless, Ljajic continued to impact the match, combining with Balzaretti again, which led to substitute Marco Borriello nodding the Italian fullback’s cross at Marchetti. But, in the dying minutes of injury time, Ljajic received a pass on the edge of the box, awing the Lazio defence with his footwork, then squirming into space, where he was fouled, handing Roma a late penalty. The birthday boy confidently stepped to the spot, scoring his second goal of the season – off the bench – for the Giallorossi, as their perfect record stays intact.

Ljajic has yet to complete a full 90 minutes for Roma, but he continues to display why he’ll be a pivotal component to their success this season. His persistence to roam around the final third linking play, score goals, and provide space for his teammates is beneficial against well-organized sides. Roma struggled in the first half, but Ljajic’s work rate in the final third led to the Giallorossi’s second half superiority against a good Lazio side.