azio, founded in 1900, have won Serie A twice, in 1974 and 2000 under Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Sergio Cragnotti, who took over the club in 1992, invested heavily and brought a stellar
group of players to Lazio.
This included Paul Gascoigne, a move that helped Serie A’s increasing popularity in
England; this interested was also boosted by the honeyed tones of James Richardson on
Channel 4’s Football Italia, created in part because of Gazza’s move.
Aside from a cup win in 2012/13 Lazio have not yet again hit the heights of 2000, in
part because of match fixing allegations and financial troubles that forced the sale of
their best players in the mid 2000s.
But current manager Simone Inzaghi has an exciting crop of players and while Lazio are
out of the Serie A hunt, the Champions League looks a real possibility.
Star striker Ciro Immobile is on course to be the first Capocannoniere, the title given
to Serie A’s top scorer, in Lazio colours since Hernan Crespo in 2000/01.
Lazio have played largely as a 3-5-1-1 this season, although they also use a 3-4-2-1.
They have a fairly settled first team, with Immobile playing ahead of Spanish schemer
Luis Alberto, a midfield three anchored by former Liverpool player Lucas Leiva with Marco
Parolo and the young Serbian Sergej Milinković-Savić flanking him, and width coming from Senad
Lulic on the left and Adam Marusic on the right.
Defensively, Lazio tend to press only when the opposition enter their half, though they
will push higher if the opposition have a sustained passage of play between their defenders.
Generally, the wide players fall back into a back five, while the midfield arrange themselves
as a sort of rhombus that flexes across so that Leiva is deeper and the two flanking
midfielders cover the half and even wide spaces.
Luis Alberto assists in the press, but is always looking to find space away from his
defensive duties as he, or Milinkovic-Savic, are the out balls when Lazio will back possession.
Immobile has limited defensive responsibility, in part because he works so hard as a front
man when Lazio are in possession and in part because he too needs to find pockets of space
from which to attack if Lazio regain the ball.
Lazio attack a lot through the wide left and left half spaces.
Milinković-Savić, who is one of this season’s outstanding young prosepcts anywhere in Europe,
creates a great deal of Lazio’s go forwards through his link-up play with left wing-back
or wide midfielder Senad Lulic.
Lulic provides a strong threat overlapping out wide, and Milinković-Savić will often
take the ball short from Leiva, or a more direct pass from the back line, before playing
short interchanges with Lulic.
Luis Alberto drifts into the space between the lines to give the Serbian an inside ball
as well.
Lazio’s ideal attacking scenario is to have one of the wing backs running with the ball
out wide, while the opposite wing back runs towards the edge of the box, two players await
the cross, and a further player loiters deeper for any knock downs or half clearances.
You can see this pattern repeated time and again when Lazio can commit sufficient men
to any break, or are attacking from their own half.
Milinkovic-Savic’s ability in the air and from long shots is important here, as he can
join Immobile in the box and threaten, or sit back and then shoot from range, as he
did beautifully against Sassuolo this season.
Meanwhile, Leiva and Parolo provide a solidity in the mdfield, Parolo moving to cover spaces
left by the attack, and Leiva anchoring in front of the back three.
Lazio concede quite a lot, but they score even more.
As of week 27, Lazio are Serie A’s leading goal scorers, but have conceded more goals
than every other team down to 11th place Udinese; Sampdoria have also conceded 34, in 6th.
In fact, Lazio have currently conceded as many goals in the league as Napoli and Juventus
combined.
Nonetheless, Lazio’s attacking pedigree, their exciting, counter-attacking style, and
the form of Immobile and Milinkovic-Savic could propel the Rome side back to Europe’s
top table.
Simone Inzaghi, young for an Italian manager and a popular former Lazio player, has crafted
a vibrant team who are fun to watch and performing above expectations in Serie A this season.