For Andrea Pinamonti, Lazio’s three-week break arrives less as an interruption than as a chance to begin again. His first outings in light blue have come before his body and rhythm were ready, after a summer shaped by a prolonged move away from Sassuolo. The pause gives him time to rebuild fitness at Formello ahead of Lazio’s return to Serie A action against Monza on 11 October.
The coach and the club
Gennaro Gattuso has asked for patience with the striker, whose early contribution has been limited not simply by the absence of goals but by his difficulty in influencing Lazio’s attacking play. Pinamonti appeared briefly against Genoa only days after reaching Formello, then started against Udinese and played an hour. He was involved for most of the second half against Milan, while his appearance in Venice was confined to the closing stages.
The matches against Udinese and Milan, his longest spells so far, did not bring the impact Lazio expected. In retrospect, the coach may have benefited from easing the 26-year-old into the side more gradually, allowing him to settle in Rome without the immediate weight of expectation.
Gattuso had already explained the situation before the trip to Venice. “Pinamonti must stay calm; he knows the condition in which he arrived,” the Lazio coach said. “He did little during the summer at Sassuolo because he rightly wanted to join Lazio at all costs. He is eager, but he needs calm. Rome was not built in a day. We know where he was physically, and he also took an ankle knock in Udine, but we know his qualities.”
The transfer itself had occupied much of Pinamonti’s summer. Although he trained, he did not do so at the required intensity while the negotiations continued, and he also missed Sassuolo’s opening competitive fixtures. Having had little match action and insufficient preparation, he could not reasonably have been expected to arrive at Lazio in peak condition.
Competition at centre-forward
That context has opened the door for Tijjani Noslin, who has completed a demanding full pre-season and is presently further ahead physically. The Dutch forward is in line to be promoted in the centre-forward role while Pinamonti works towards his best level.
Gattuso, however, has rejected the idea of a fixed first choice and an understudy. His selection will depend on opponents and the requirements of individual matches, as it does in several areas of the squad.
“The rotation is not only about him in attack,” Gattuso said. “It also depends on the teams we face. Noslin is different: he is more dynamic and gives us depth. Andrea can offer things too, but he has different characteristics. We will decide from game to game how we want to trouble our opponents.”
The task for Pinamonti is therefore not to reclaim a place from a rival, but to reach a condition that allows him to compete with Noslin on equal terms. He has already been following an individual programme during the break, and from the following day, when Lazio resume training at Formello, he will continue the work alongside his team-mates.
The Monza match is the target. Lazio need their new striker to turn a hesitant opening into a proper start to his Roman chapter.
