Maurizio Sarri has mixed feelings after his first half-season with Lazio, although he is satisfied with the 3-1 win over Venezia.
The Biancocelesti currently sit 8th in the Serie A table after 19 matches, seven points behind 4th place Atalanta. Whilst the team have shown signs of Sarri’s characteristic attacking flair, issues with consistency still plague the squad and hamper the results.
Speaking to gathered reporters in a press conference after the win over Venezia, Sarri highlighted the positives and negatives of the match, saying ‘we had a very good first half, good dribbling quality, we lacked a bit in the final pass. When they regain the ball, they immediately attack the depth, they immediately create dangerous situations.
‘They have high level players here. Great dynamism, we had control of the game, I’m disappointed that at the end of the first half things were level, the team had done something more. In the second half we dribbled less, but we snatched the game more.
‘We could have managed the counters more calmly, dribbled a bit more and kept the game at a lower pace. After Acerbi’s injury we weren’t playing well on the pitch, it was complicated. Characteristically, we held our own, so this time it’s a good thing.’
The Lazio coach noted his mixed emotions following his first six months with the Roman club, detailing how it has been ‘a complex journey, full of difficulties. Some steps forward, some setbacks. The feeling is different in the last five games, we seem to have found a bit more solidity, even if it is not the one I like.
‘We seem to be growing in what I like as well. Everyone talks about us as a dribbling team, in reality we are second or third in the vertical play rankings. Dribbling that we would also like to be vertical, not only horizontal.’
He was not impressed with reports that he had fallen out with midfielders Luis Alberto and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic recently, highlighting that ‘I only had one fight with Luis Alberto, four months ago. I read one of the biggest fake news, that I had a fight with Milinkovic-Savic. I don’t think so.’
Sarri suggested that the busy schedule is hampering his ability to fully transmit his attacking style to the squad, nothing that ‘the problem is that we haven’t had training weeks, we haven’t had a normal week since August. It becomes difficult, lacking the daily work the work becomes routine.
‘You miss the whole weekly context in which you could trigger a sense of fun in the players. That’s modern football. That’s your problem, I’m old enough, in a couple of years I’ll say goodbye to you.’
Speaking about next month’s transfer window, the Lazio coach said ‘you know very well that our market is linked to exits, you have to see who leaves.’
He suggested that wing back Manuel Lazzari could leave the club in the January window, highlighting that ‘I don’t know, whoever has a strong offer can be a suspect.’
The 62-year-old Italian coach did not think that Lazzari’s issue was his physicality, however. ‘At Napoli I spent three years with Mario Rui in defence, and he has similar characteristics to Lazzari.
‘Perhaps more muscular, but in the centre not taller. When there are crosses to the far post and he covers it, sometimes you pay for that, but there are compensations in turn. We have to see what he can come up with.’
#Sarri: «Il percorso è quello giusto, sul rinnovo…» https://t.co/wM9UONlQMB
— LazioNews24.com (@LazioNews_24) December 22, 2021