Well all right, in a few short hours the Viola will be back out on the pitch, hopefully that will help them turn the page from the 3 recent matches where bad luck and poor refereeing resulted in losses (Roma, Bayern and AC David Beckham). They opponent will be the baby blue Romans, who have been trying to sort out their problems under new manager Reja, who is running the show on the brilliant plan of putting his best 11 out on the field. Of course, the piss poor management of the club has meant that Pandev is now at Inter so the best 11 is not quite as strong as it could be.
A Few words about Wednesday:
I didn't get to see the second half, only the highlights. If, at the end of the season, the Viola are short points, the home matches against Roma and Milan will be a massive reason why. Both of these matches showed the Viola dominating play, but for various reasons they couldn't hold on. So frustrating. Of course, there should have been a penalty for Thiago Silva's mugging of RikcyMonty, but the Viola should have scored at least 3 goals. It is unfortunate that apparently the VIola cannot expect a fair shake for the referees either in the league or the CL, but they've shown the quality to be one of the top 4 teams in Italy so many times this season.
I also take full responsibility for saying that I wasn't impressed with Pato, which of course jinxed our boys and led to the injury time winner by the Brazilian. Damn it.
Table Analysis:
I wanted to take a look at where things stand right now. The Viola are in a disappointing 10th, 7 points adrift of 4th placed Juve. There are 13 matches left, therefore the Viola have 39 points they could still win. Juve are averaging 1.64 points per match, and if they maintain this pace will finish up with roughly 62 points (rounded down from 62.3). With Fiorentina sitting on 34 points, this means that they're going to need a minimum of 29 from the last 13 league matches. That's 9 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses, which would be quite a run. Not impossible, but it would be very tough. Here's the remaining matches. Of those, the Viola must win against Juve, Genoa, Napoli and Milan to have any chance of passing teams and heading up into the European places. A tall order indeed.
Today's Match:
This is a winnable match for the Viola. Lazio are having a nightmare season, only 2 points clear of the relegation zone. However, Fiorentina will be without their 2 top scorers this season, as Gila took a knock on his knee on Wednesday and Vargas is having ankle problems. This likely means a start for Ljajic on the left wing and Jo-Jo up front. This means that RickyMonty will have to push further up the pitch and try to contribute offensively as Jo-Jo will be further forward than we are used to. Plus, Kerrison may come on for the last portion of the match, so he'll get another chance to get his first Fiorentina goal, hopefully he won't blow it this time like when he had it on his foot to win the match on Wednesday.
Lineups, aka Blind Guess Dept.
Fiorentina: 4-3-3; Bassy; Pasqual, Kroldrup, Felipe, LDS; Bolatti, Zanetti, RickyMonty; Ljajic, Jo-Jo, Marchionni.
Lazio: 4-4-2: Berni; Lichtsteiner, Stendardo, Radu, Kolarov; Brocchi, Ledesma, Matuzalem, Mauri; Rocchi, Floccari.
TeeVee?
Game will be live on FSC and RAI from 2:30 EST. Wooo!
Prediction Time:
Jo-Jo and Ljajic show. 2-0 to the Viola. Forza Partizan! Forza Viola!