Lazio hosts AS Roma in round 2 of Italian Serie A. The match will be played on Sunday, September 1st at Stadio Olimpico (Rome)
In the last season, Arrigo Sacchi quite rightly claimed that Serie A was stuck in the seventies, but Lazio of Filippo Inzaghi was a pleasant exception - the Eagles had (and still have) a very well-built game structure, and it includes defense and attack. Lazio started the new season of the Italian championship quite well: the Eagles beat Sampdoria away very confidently (3-0). Inzaghi did not back down from his favorite scheme: Lazio played 3-5-2 - this factor makes Filippo cool. Firstly, a constant game with a 3-5-2 scheme means dogmatism, which is not so common these days. It influenced the match against Sampdoria - the Genoese played 4-3-3, such a move meant that the playmaker pivot midfielders of both teams would not have a direct opponent, and therefore it becomes easier to attack, but harder to defend. This thesis worked for almost the entire match, and the game was very interesting, even despite the score: in possession of 50% -50%, in shots - 16:17, in shots on target - 8:10. The match was very interesting, and we saw a lot of good attempts from the teams. But it’s also worth saying that Lazio, although it deservedly won, should not have sought such a margin. My subjective impressions are confirmed by advanced statistics - Lazio won in terms of expected goals (xG) 1.54: 0.63 - confident victory, but obviously not 3-0.
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Roma’s new head coach is very cool (just remember the Champions League 2017-2018, where Paulo Fonseca collected compliments from Guardiola and Sarri, and in the 1/8 finals, Shakhtar almost knocked out Roma, which became a semi-finalist in that draw). In the first round, Roma played with a 4-2-3-1 scheme - this choice can be explained by two things. 1) Fonseca has two basic schemes: 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. 2) At the start, Diawara did not appear in the field - only he can single-handedly control the pivot zone, and, accordingly, the Romans can play with a 4-3-3 scheme only with him. Roma played very well: the Wolves created attempts for 2.13 expected goals (xG), according to Understat, and they had 4 clear goal attempts - there are practically no questions about the game in the attack of Roma now. As for defense, some problems can be solved by signing a good central defender, though Rome should hurry up.
Roma is very good in the attack in this season, but there are problems in defense. Lazio also held a fairly high-quality match against Genoa (both in attack and defense), but it was noticeable that the defense of the Eagles was not very stable. Therefore, it seems to me that both of them can score, so my prediction is Both to Score -Yes.
Prediction for the match: Both teams to score - yes
