Tango is the music most associated with the Boedo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, original home to Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, but after a poor opening to the club's 2008 campaign, it is the the melancholy sound of the blues that is more likely to be heard on the cobbled streets surrounding the former site of the Estadio Gasómetro.

Three games played; three defeats; zero goals scored; five conceded. Such a start to a season would be considered unsatisfactory for just about any team, but when the team in question is one of Argentina's largest and has just secured the signature of a play-maker capped twenty-six times by the national side, then expectation dictates that it will be seen as more than just unsatisfactory.

To make matters worse, 2008 represents San Lorenzo's centenary year and there is a lot of pressure on coach Ramon Diaz to deliver a trophy to mark the anniversary in style.

El Ciclón have bounced back from their financial difficulties in the late seventies/early eighties to re-establish themselves as one of the top clubs in Argentina, winning two Clausura titles, one Copa Mercosur and one Copa Sudamericana since the turn of the century.

However, there is still one memory from their economic crisis that continues to haunt their supporters to this day: the repossession of the Estadio Gasómetro – a nationally renowned stadium – in 1979, which is now the site for a Carrefour supermarket. Since 1993 the club have played their home games at the Estadio Pedro Bidegain in the Nueva Pompeya neighbourhood.

Many supporters argue that the stadium lacks the same feeling that was generated inside the Gasómetro, which was located right in the heart of the Bodeo barrio in which the club was founded. There has been a concerted effort from fans to get the club moved back to what they see as their rightful home, but Carrefour are not willing to sell up and therefore it seems unlikely this will be possible any time soon. Rival supermarket chain Walmart has sponsored the club in recent years – most probably in an attempt to profit from the supporters' hatred towards Carrefour.

Location issues aside, spirits were high among la gloriosa going into the new season, with Diaz – who led them to the Clausura title in 2007 – spurning advances from River Plate to remain as coach and managing to keep hold of key players such as Néstor Silvera and Agustín Orión. In addition, San Lorenzo were busy bringing new recruits to the club and pulled off a major coup when they wrapped up the signing of former River star Andrés D'Alessandro at the start of February.

All the excitement surrounding the club was brought to grinding halt just four minutes into their Argentine Clausura campaign when midfielder Jorge Ortíz was sent off against Newell's Old Boys in a game that San Lorenzo went on to lose 2-0 in front of their home fans. This was followed by another 2-0 defeat last Tuesday, this time away to Caracas of Venezuela in their first Copa Libertadores group stage match.

"We have to keep on improving,” Diaz told reporters after that game, “today we didn't demonstrate the level of football that we should be playing, but we have a team with huge potential to do very well.”

There was a marked improvement in their second Clausura game against San Martin San Juan on Saturday as San Lorenzo dominated possession and created a number of good goal-scoring opportunities. However, they were unable to get the goal that their performance deserved and succumbed to a 1-0 defeat - a second at the Pedro Bidegain.

Defensive indiscipline has been at the heart of their problems thus far, with Ortiz's dismissal followed by Cristian Tula receiving his marching orders against Caracas and Gastón Aguirre conceding a last minute penalty with a poorly advised challenge against San Martin. With the attacking players just starting to form new relationships and therefore not yet at their best, Diaz can ill-afford for his defence to make their task more difficult.

What will be pleasing to Diaz is that D'Alessandro looked dangerous against San Martin and seemed to revel in a return to the 'number ten' play-maker role in which he made his name at River. With the likes of Gonzalo Bergessio, Bernando Romeo, Daniel Bilos and Silvera in the attacking third, San Lorenzo have a potent forward-line at their disposal and surely it can only be a matter of time before they gel together and start firing in the goals.

Speaking after their loss to San Martin, club captain Adrián González summed up the mood inside the dressing room.

"We are calm because we saw a different attitude today. We could not score, but had thousands of chances in front of goal. The team showed a lot of things that we have not in the previous performances. Playing this way, we are going to win a lot of matches, of that I am convinced."

They will certainly be tested in the coming week, as they face tough Brazilian side Cruzeiro in the Copa Libertadores on Thursday and then travel to River Plate in the Clausura at the weekend. If San Lorenzo are to prove that their start to the season was just a blip, then the next seven days would be a good time to show it.

If they can, then the Esquina Homero Manzi should soon be awash with the sound of Tango music and the sight of contented la gloriosa once again.

cool, what was it?"funky_dance"

the footy u said u watched!