Goodbye Delio. Now up for Zenga?

It’s still not official but Delio Rossi won’t be Lazio coach for the next season. The situation was already uncertain but it got worse when a Sicilian journalist reached him on his mobile yesterday and asked him whether his adventure at Lazio was over or not and if he knew about Palermo’s interest about him. Rossi answered saying that probably he was the one who should make the first move and said that in that case he would choose not to be Lazio’s coach anymore. After all, the former Salernitana manager knows well Lotito’s ways. The President normally keeps quiet when he’s reflecting upon something or he has too many things to do and if he doesn’t speak to you, you can consider yourself out. This is what happened with Paolo Di Canio after all, no less than three years ago. So Rossi, who was probably fed up with waiting, decided to make the first move, even if he was just answering a question on the phone. Other journalists reported Rossi’s words to Lotito and the President claimed that “there are plenty more fish in the sea” and that if Rossi didn’t want to stay he could go. Basically, the journalists interfered in the Lotito-Rossi relationship providing the sack of one of the five winning coaches in the history of SS Lazio. Of course, the Roman Eagles underperformed in the League, reaching Europe only via the Italian Cup. But Lazio was at the beginning of a new era and Lotito knows this well. So, to sack Rossi means to leave a whole project incomplete.
Felice Pulici, the 1974 Lazio goalkeeper, in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport Roman edition, claims that at Lazio the coaches don’t choose the players they want because Lotito is the only one deciding. Basically, this is the same that happens at AC Milan with the pair Berlsuconi-Galliani. Apparently, this could be true. And this actually gives more credit to Delio Rossi, who always stuck to Lotito’s decisions, trying to field the best eleven he could Sunday after Sunday. That’s why he didn’t deserve to be mistreated. But to be honest, his rotation was just too much in the last season. He didn’t have an ideal lineup. And when you’re a coach, you’ve got to have one precise system in the end (he kept switching from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 and got dizzy when Rocchi made it back to the squad).
Walter Zenga has carried this same principle at Catania over the last 14 months. He kept rotating some of his men in order to give his squad more unpredictability but he had a spine he would not change (Bizzarri-Silvestre-Ledesma-Mascara). He partially succeeded under the Etna, but who knows if this strategy really works at Lazio? The Roman stage could be a great opportunity for the former Internazionale goalkeeper who has the ambition of «heading back home one day», as he recently declared to Sky Sports.
Davide Ballardini is another candidate to sit on Lazio’s bench next season. After miraculously rescuing Cagliari in 2007/08, he managed Palermo in 2008/09 achieving many good results. His teams normally play very well. After all, he’s a Sacchi’s disciple. He has just declared he’s leaving the Sicilian club but no-one has looked for him yet.
Massimiliano Allegri and his champagne football are the other option to lead the pack next season. The Livorno born coach has showed many good things both at Sassuolo and Cagliari and he would be ready for a European stage.
What’s sure, Lotito hasn’t decided yet who is going to sit on Lazio’s bench in the coming months. He has too many things to think about. One of them was paying the whole 20 million euros to Al-Saad for Mauro Matias Zarate, which surely was to be considered a priority (lazio paid yesterday through a bank transfer). In fact, what about getting some help in carrying out all these tasks?