Simone Inzaghi admits Lazio ‘have to look reality in the face’ after their 2-1 home defeat to Sassuolo. ‘Talking about the Scudetto was always a stretch.’
The Biancocelesti suffered a third consecutive defeat, having taken the lead at the Olimpico through Luis Alberto, only to be out-played by Sassuolo in the second half.
Simone Inzaghi admits Lazio ‘have to look reality in the face’ after their 2-1 home defeat to Sassuolo. ‘Talking about the Scudetto was always a stretch.’
The Biancocelesti suffered a third consecutive defeat, having taken the lead at the Olimpico through Luis Alberto, only to be out-played by Sassuolo in the second half.
“The lads gave their all,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia. “Unfortunately, that isn’t enough at the moment. We talked to the players so much over the last few days, it’s just a difficult time for us with a tough run of games very close together.
“Sassuolo have the option of changing nine players from the XI that started two days ago, but we just ended up copying what happened against Lecce. Once again, we went in front and fell away at the end.
“You can tell we’re not sharp, as we are conceding goals that we wouldn’t have done three months ago.”
The season was transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted a three-month lockdown and completely changed the fixture list.
“The real regret is that the lads did train during the lockdown, then 10 minutes from the restart, we had these problems pile up. Lucas Leiva, Danilo Cataldi, Adam Marusic, Ramos, Joaquin Correa, Bobby Adekanye all had problems.
“We thought that we’d just have to do without Senad Lulic.”
The Scudetto talk has now definitively sailed and Inzaghi’s comments seemed to reflect that, as Atalanta could leapfrog them into second place tonight.
“We need a few more points, because our Scudetto is qualifying for the Champions League. Talking about the Scudetto was always a bit of a stretch and we have to look reality in the face.
“That doesn’t mean we will give up. Next season, in the Champions League, we’ll be able to rotate the squad more.”