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In addition to his possession and playmaking duties, I thought Barella did a great job defending in midfield, particularly in the first half. He faded in the last 20 minutes or so but for stretches of the 2nd half, it was a one-man show and I'm bitterly disappointed he didn't get that goal he deserved.
Barella aside, both de Vrij and Handanovic had an excellent game. And I thought Lukaku showed glimpses of improvement. Biraghi was solid. I'd like to see him be a bit more adventurous and attack his marker in future. He wasn't as involved as I would've liked, but that's more down to the team than him.
For the negatives, I thought Vecino was utterly useless today, in both offense and defense. Politano was, well.. he was Politano. Lots of industry and running and pace, but no end product. And by "end product", I'm not even talking about goals or assists. Just simple hold up play and teamwork. Today, his ball control was very poor and he wasn't able to reliably give us a foothold in the final third. As others mentioned, he's looked far better coming off the bench.
Lautaro had another performance like in the derby. That is to say, sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit - all in the space of a 15 minute cameo.
The most concerning aspect of the game was the defence. Don't get me wrong, Lazio were in parts, excellent. They had some very good moments maintaining pressure and cycling possession in our last third, with clever movement and interplay. Watch how they set up the Caicedo -> Correa chance. Watch how their LWB Jony comes in to a central position from the left to be a 3rd attacker in the box while they create an overlap on the same left flank etc.
I'd have to rewatch the match to identify where things went wrong but there were a handful of times where a Lazio player (like Bastos) was able to just cleanly receive the ball, unchallenged and unmarked, in our penalty box. That's straight up bullshit.
Barella aside, both de Vrij and Handanovic had an excellent game. And I thought Lukaku showed glimpses of improvement. Biraghi was solid. I'd like to see him be a bit more adventurous and attack his marker in future. He wasn't as involved as I would've liked, but that's more down to the team than him.
For the negatives, I thought Vecino was utterly useless today, in both offense and defense. Politano was, well.. he was Politano. Lots of industry and running and pace, but no end product. And by "end product", I'm not even talking about goals or assists. Just simple hold up play and teamwork. Today, his ball control was very poor and he wasn't able to reliably give us a foothold in the final third. As others mentioned, he's looked far better coming off the bench.
Lautaro had another performance like in the derby. That is to say, sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit - all in the space of a 15 minute cameo.
The most concerning aspect of the game was the defence. Don't get me wrong, Lazio were in parts, excellent. They had some very good moments maintaining pressure and cycling possession in our last third, with clever movement and interplay. Watch how they set up the Caicedo -> Correa chance. Watch how their LWB Jony comes in to a central position from the left to be a 3rd attacker in the box while they create an overlap on the same left flank etc.
I'd have to rewatch the match to identify where things went wrong but there were a handful of times where a Lazio player (like Bastos) was able to just cleanly receive the ball, unchallenged and unmarked, in our penalty box. That's straight up bullshit.