#3 Not starting Felipe Anderson was a costly error for Lazio
A positive start for Lazio was drowned out by Alves’ opener, and from then it was all down hill in the first half. Keita Balde Diao could have given them the lead when he linked up with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic before jinking into the box from the left-hand side and smacking the post.
Other than that, there was very little inspiration in Inzaghi’s side, especially first half. Marco Parolo was forced off through injury, meaning they lost some control of the tempo in the middle. Keita and Ciro Immobile were isolated in attack, failing to make any sort of impact on the game. The service was nowhere to be seen.
Felipe Anderson was that missing link, and his introduction changed things a little. His very first act was to test Neto in the Juve goal with a stinging shot, and from then, the gap between midfield and attack began to close. Anderson and fellow substitution Luis Alberto made Lazio push higher up the pitch, putting the eventual winners under a lot more pressure. The frustrating thing for Inzaghi will be that his side started with the same purpose, and could not get it back until, in reality, it was too late.
Juve most certainly dropped off in the second half, deliberately or not, but Anderson was a huge reason for that. Whether it was central, on the left or on the right, the Brazilian exercised his free role excellently by creating chances. If only he’d been on from the start.
