Across the English speaking soccer loving world, strikers Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll are getting all of the headlines after their high profile moves in the English Premier League. They've got some competition for "signing of the season," though, and that competition is currently coming from A.C. Milan's Antonio Cassano. After a row with Sampdoria's chairman this fall, Cassano said "Imma take my talents to Milan" and so far, the results have been fantastic. Today, his Milan side face off against Lazio.
The addition of Cassano was met with a lot of skepticism about how he might affect the Milan dressing room. After all, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho already have massive egos, what was going to happen if you threw a third ego into the picture? So far, Cassano's been anything but Mr. Ego, and has instead appeared to be extremely unselfish.
Stylistically, Cassano was always going to be a great addition. Honestly, he'd be a great addition to any team, but he's the kind of player who really does make Ibrahimovic and Robinho better. Cassano can be played up top with a complete forward, a target man, or a poacher and compliment their skills. If he can continue to not shag anyone's sister and not declare that he's too big for Milan, Cassano should continue to have great success.
Milan is sitting on top of Serie A, and today, they welcome the team currently sitting in third place, Lazio. The Rome club appear to be on a bit of a skid, despite their current standing, and a bad performance here could spell the beginning of the end for Lazio in the top four. They defeated Fiorentina this weekend, but it was a dire performance and they required Libor Kozak to bail them out.
In their defense, they were without Mauro Zarate due to suspension, and Hernanes did not start the match. The latter absence from the starting lineup was probably to ensure that the player was 100% fit for today's encounter, so it's possible that we could see a completely different Lazio team from the one that played on Saturday.
I have a very bold suggestion. I think Lazio should drop leading scorer Sergio Floccari. Kozak is the hot hand, and the team completely lacked creativity without Hernanes and Zarate in the starting lineup. Will Edoardo Reja have the guts to do it? Signs point to no.
Kickoff is at 2:45 pm ET, and you can catch the game on ESPN3.com. If you don't get ESPN3, keep it on SBNation for live updates.