[Paulo]

I hope your coach realises this and puts him as a starter in defence and stop wasting his time by puting him in a defensive midfield role.

 

[Matjaz]

Well, as a matter of fact i think that Couto will 100 % play in starting 11 next season. If he plays like with Portugal or like the game against Chelsea, than our defence will be more strong than ever. Couto is cool

 

[Robban]

Couto is the best defender Lazio HAVE?

Hmm... Does the name ALESSANDRO NESTA ring a bell?

 

[Petter]

Couto was brilliant, absolutely brilliant....but not better than our Nesta. I hope to see Couto-Nesta in the defence next year.
...It is time to say goodbye to Miha now...

 

[Emir]

Couto will NOT be in the starting line-up next season. Erikssons first choice are still Nesta/Miha

FORZA LAZIO

 

[Mattias]

Paulo, Couto defensive midfielder ? that was season 98/99 !! last season (99/00) he played as defender !!

FORZALAZIO !!

http://Laziomania.socceralliance.com

 

[Dino]

First of all, Couto is great!
Second, if Miha is first choice it's only because of Eriksson and not 'cause his quality.He's not good as before at set pieces, his defending is horrible, and attitude on the pitch is unacceptable.
Come on, Dailysoccer announced him WORST player of Euro2000.In 240 minutes he played for Yugoslavia they scored 4 and conceeded 13(THIRTEEN) goals.In 120 minutes he wasn't one the pitch they scored 4 and conceeded 0 (ZERO) goals.I think I said everything...
Sell him to Obilic, and buy a young Italian defender as a backup for Nesta/Couto.
FORZA LAZIO!!!

 

[Invasion]

The only reason Miha plays is for set peices and becuase Nesta is there to cover his a**.
If Nesta wasn't there Miha couldn't play because everything would get past him

 

[EL MATADOR]

Hehehe

FORZALAZIO!

 

[svennis]

I soooo hope Eriksson will change his mind about Miha and put him on the bench.

I think that now when Lo Scudetto is won and Eriksson doesn´t need to have a group within the squad. It used to be or still is that when Eriksson get´s under fire Mihajlovic, Mancini and Lombardo are quickly there to help him and you could all see 2 seasons ago after each and every freekick goal Miha scored he ran up to Eriksson and gave him a hug just to show 1) respect and friendship 2) the press / Cragnotti where his loyalties lie. For this I love Mihajlovic and for this I belive that he has 1 more year in the starting lineup of Lazio - but it has nothing to do with his defending which right now is at levels so low you need a periscope to stay there.

Couto deserves a better faith then to stay on the bench. He was marvelous during Euro2000 and the pairing Nesta - Couto is perfect. Another solution could be using Miha on the left in the defence - maybe Nedved and Lopez won´t need a speedy defender because between them there´s so much speed already. Miha - Nesta - Couto - Negro I´m sure Eriksson will try it during training. Miha could then step higher up but we´d be taking some beating on the left wing ( better then in the middle right ).

 

[Menul]

I totally agree with Invasion on this.

To tell you all the truth, I used to think that Miha is unreplaceable because of his free kick and his solid defending work, but now I know that I was very wrong about that (confession time!). I realized my mistake when I saw how bad Miha was performing when Yugo played against Slovenia, and it finally struck me that the only reason why Miha looked so solid in Lazio was because he was pairing up with Nesta at the back (you're right, Invasion!). OK, so Miha (perhaps) still has that thundering free kick of his, but hey, we've still got Veron, right?

And as for the best defender... it's still gonna be the one and only Alessandro Nesta.

 

[endranesta]

Coute is absolutely great,but not the best in Lazio,we have Alessandro Nesta,and i believe that Mr.coach will still use Miha and Nesta,why ??? because Nesta and Couto are typically the same.Although Miha played terrible in euro 2000,we still need his amazing free kick.
FORZA LAZIO
FORZA COUTO
FORZA NESTA
FORZA MIHA

 

[Matjaz]

I REALLY agree with endranesta !

 

[Emir]

I can´t believe you guys are doing this...

YES Miha was terrible in the Slovenia game
YES Miha was bas against Holland
YES Couto had a great Euro...but

OUR COACH is Sven Göran Eriksson. The man who trains these guys every day, the man who has won 6 titles with Lazio, the man who is a proffesional coach,the man who speaks, eats and almost lives with his players, if he thinks that Miha is a better option, then I am not gonna question him.

Erikssons judgment of players has more value then 200 000 anti-miha posts, fortunately...

Why is 99% of this board trying to play smarter then our coach. If Couto is a better player, then he will play, that´s simple. What is best for Lazio will be done, don´t worry. If Miha is in the starting line-up, then he IS the best option we have. The same goes for Couto...

FORZA LAZIO

Don´t judge Mihajlovic by two games in Euro. I hope he will prove you all wrong next season.

 

[Nedved!]

I'm with Emir on this.

Yeah Euro 2000 gave us new perspective on Couto and started - or enhanced - the doubts on Miha.
But the loyalty of a player is a very important factor to his performance. And it seems that Miha is very loyal to Lazio (read:Eriksson) while it's doubtful whether he has the same degree of loyalty to Yugo.
And we know better than than to judge a player merely from the performance in a big tournament (Euro 2000 in this case). Couto had a terrific time there, Miha the opposite. We can use Euro 2000 only as a part to judge how they'll perform for us next season, but it's not really fair to judge them merely on Euro 2000 I think...
Eriksson must know best on this! He'll be watching how these 2 perform during the pre-season matches, and all the friendly matches and after that he'll make his decision about the starting line-up. Till then, we won't know for sure.

Forza Lazio

 

[Marie]

Ok! Couto is a very good player, but hey, do you think he can compete with our ALESSANDRO NESTA, come on.......

 

[Natalya]

The Sandro/Miha pairing is good because they compliment each other...but if we want to be the meanest defence then I don;t think Miha is that man! But then it's true what Emir says, we can all pretend we are part time coaches, but Svennis is the one who works with the team week in week out! Plus Miha has such a deadly free kick!

 

[ITALAZIO]

Ericsson and the defence

I absolutely disagree with you Emir. I would question a lot of decisions Ericsson makes. As a matter of fact, I think coach is one of Lazio's biggest problems. The season almost became a disaster (win Juventus the last game). Were last season's Juve or previous season Milan two great teams? Hell NO!! Only 1 player, for example, for Juve played the whole season great-Davids. The victory should have been more convincing. Nobody exept Inter spent more money than Lazio.
And we have a great team(!), but still lose to Valencia. That game is totally on the coach. Just look at Ericsson's face, when Lazio is down. He never knows what to do! Remember him putting absolutely out of shape Mancini on the pitch? Or opening up the game against Valencia with a 2-1 score in the away game(missing 2 key defenders)?
Buying Peruzzi and Carini we completed 2 lines on our team.
If we buy Crespo the third one will be completed. The main concern is defence! It should be totally redone. If not this year then next. Although, even this year might be a catastrophic one. Team with Mihajlovic in the middle of defence is absolutely unbalanced. It is too risky to play the way we did in 1999-2000 season.

ROMANI SI, ROMANISTI MAI!!!

 

[Emir]

ITALAZIO
please write down all Lazio titles without Eriksson in 97 years - and I will write down what Eriksson has won in 3 years.

We can compare the lists and see which one is longer

FORZA LAZIO

 

[Green-Jumper]

I know what you mean Emir, Eriksson has won lots of trophies for Lazio since he arrived.
As for last summer, I think that other clubs did spend more than Lazio. Lazio bought Veron, Simeone, Inzaghi, Sensini and Andersson, for not much more than they got for Vieri.
Juve, Parma and Milan all spent millions and ended up with nothing.
To question Erikkson's selection after all he has won is crazy, what more do you want from the guy?
The game against Valencia was bad, but we were without a lot of key defenders for that game, and anyway, Valencia had a great side.
Forza Sven-Goran