A best-ever start, and a coach who won’t buy it
Lazio beat Parma 2-1 on 24 October, and [1] describes the run as the club’s strongest ever start to a season. The same report carries a note of caution from coach Gennaro Gattuso, who said the team does not yet belong at the top of the table and has to keep its focus. That is an unusual message after a win, but it fits a side that has so far avoided defeat.
The context makes the caution easier to understand. Before the Parma game, [2] had Lazio joint top of Serie A and unbeaten, fresh from a 3-0 win against Juventus. Parma, by contrast, had lost their last two games 3-0 and were struggling after a difficult start. Lazio won that fixture, but only by a single goal, which is the kind of margin a coach can point to when he asks for more.
There is also a mood issue around the stadium. The same report confirms that the ultras are continuing their absence from Lazio home games. The results have arrived without that usual backing, and it is one more reason Gattuso may prefer to keep expectations low.
Squad news: who was in, who was out
The Parma line-up preview gives a clear picture of the selection picture. Gustav Isaksen, Mattia Zaccagni and Tijjani Noslin were all expected to start, with Noslin leading the line. Those are expectations rather than confirmed team sheets, and the reports rate them at 0.8 confidence, so they should be treated as likely rather than certain.
The absentees were more definite. Albert Gudmundsson, Adam Marusic and Nicolò Rovella were all listed as out of action. That is a forward, a defender and a midfielder missing at once, so Lazio were short of options in several areas. The positive was Kenneth Taylor, who had recovered from a knock and was listed as fit.
There were two further notes from the Gattuso report. Luca Pellegrini was excluded from the squad list but then brought back in, and he is listed as fit. Patric has been sold, so he is no longer part of the picture. None of the input says how long the three injured players will be out, so it would be a guess to say whether any of them can return for the next game.
The record behind the table
The site’s own records show Lazio second in Serie A with 22 points from 8 games: seven wins, one draw and no defeats. They have scored 16 and conceded 5, a goal difference of plus 11. Those numbers support the idea of a side that wins fairly comfortably, and Gattuso’s caution is aimed more at the future than at the evidence so far.
The recent results, newest first, are:
- 24 October, home to Parma: 2-1 win
- 18 October, away to Juventus: 3-0 win
- 11 October, home to Monza: 3-1 win
- 19 September, away to Venezia: 2-0 win
- 12 September, home to AC Milan: 2-2 draw
The draw with Milan is the only dropped points in the eight games. The two-goal margins at Juventus and Venezia suggest the team is also effective away from home. Of the five games listed, four were won by two goals or more, and only the Parma win was by a single goal. Note that the list skips some dates, so it is not an unbroken sequence of consecutive matches.
What it means
Lazio are second on 22 points from 8 games, with seven wins and a draw, and a goal difference of plus 11 from 16 scored and 5 conceded. Football Italia had them joint top before the Parma game, so the table is tight at the front. The form line, four wins in the last five listed games and a draw before that, is the strongest argument that the start is more than luck, whatever Gattuso says in public.
The next fixture is Sassuolo v Lazio on 27 October, only three days after the Parma match. That short turnaround matters, because Gudmundsson, Marusic and Rovella were all out before the Parma game and nothing in the input says they are back. The question for Gattuso is whether he can keep the same level with a thin squad and a quick turnaround, away from home.
The site’s forecast for the Sassuolo game locks 24 hours before kick-off, so no prediction is published here yet. When it appears it will be graded publicly like every other call. Until then, the facts are simple: Lazio have not lost, they are scoring freely, and their coach is asking them to prove they belong.
Sources
- Football Italia: Gattuso: ‘Lazio frankly don’t belong up there’ at top of Serie A table football-italia.net ↩
- Football Italia: Serie A line-ups: Lazio vs. Parma football-italia.net ↩
