Lazio's Early Season Success Says Much About Serie A

Lazio are flying high at the moment. Now at the top of the Serie A standings and enjoying a better start to the season than both their Scudetto-winning sides of 1974 and 2000, fans of the Biancocelesti are dreaming about winning their third Serie title, as they should be.

How unlikely for this to be the case considering last season Lazio were flirting with relegation before a strong run towards the end of the season secured their place in Italy’s top flight.

Perhaps due to this, Lazio bought shrewdly over the summer.  Influential in helping Lazio avoid relegation last season, Sergio Floccari was brought in permanently and has continued his good form for Lazio with three goals in six appearances so far this season.

Javier Garrido and Mark Bresciano were also brought in to add some depth. However, it was the magnificent signing of Hernanes that was the masterstroke by the Lazio decision-makers.

Sought after by a number of clubs, Hernanes arrived in Italy with a big reputation, and he is duly living up to it. His goals and assists are a major reason why Lazio are in the top spot.

But despite these signings, overall the Lazio squad is not that strong. Therefore, one doubts whether they will be strong enough to continue their push for an unlikely Serie A triumph.

What one can conclude is that with Lazio leading Serie A with their good, but not great, squad, it says much about the quality of the rest of the competition—or lack thereof.

Inter are the one exception. But the likes of Juventus, Milan and Roma, traditionally contenders for the Scudetto, all possess squads where there is real quality only in patches.

Milan may possess the likes of Ibrahimovic, Pato, Nesta and Robinho.  However, there are also many players for the Rossoneri that are average or far past their best yet continue to see much playing time. Zambrotta, Gattuso, Seedorf and Bonera are players that fall into this category.

It is much the same at Juventus. Krasic, Bonucci, Chiellini and Aquilani may all start to be showing their class, yet with average players like Simone Pepe, the hapless Amauri and the less-than-convincing Zdenak Grygera playing regularly, there are still a few steps Juventus need to make before the Old Lady can consider herself a force again.

As for Roma, the less said the better. Woeful so far this season, both in the Champions League and in the Serie A, their 3-1 home loss to Basel midweek is enough to suggest the current squad is lacking a thing or two.

Italian football has definitely recovered to some degree since it imploded on itself in 2006. However, Inter, the one team that benefited from the scandal, are still by far the most superior squad in Italy. Simply because of this, it is merely a matter of time before they are once again leading Serie A.

Even with a coach who has not won a league title since 2004, by the sheer strength of his side Benitez should secure Inter yet another title.

Perhaps the most telling way to measure the current strength of Serie A teams is to consider performances so far in Europe this season. Apart from Inter, Italian teams have certainly not impressed.

Milan and Roma have failed to make an impact in the Champions League, and Roma already look in danger of not progressing to the second round.

In the Europa League, between the Italian teams competing and after playing three matches each, only on two occasions has a win been recorded. Palermo, Juventus and Sampdoria are all not in a good position to progress to the next round, whilst Napoli are doing slightly better, sitting in second place on goal difference.

The poor showings thus far in Europe by Italian teams, coupled with the obvious weaknesses still present in the traditional heavyweights apart from Inter, only suggest that Lazio’s early season success is due greatly to the lack of quality in the league.