Maurizio Sarri reveals what sparked his final whistle row with Alexis Saelemaekers and complains Lazio ‘did the complete opposite of what we practiced’ in the defeat to Milan.
Rafael Leao and Zlatan Ibrahimovic got the goals at San Siro, and it could’ve been more, had Franck Kessie not fired his penalty against the crossbar.
There was tension at the final whistle and the coach was shown a red card for his altercation with Saelemaekers.
“It was nothing in particular,” Sarri shrugged on DAZN.
“The young lad made a gesture that you shouldn’t do to older people and Ibrahimovic then calmed everything down. These things happen on the pitch.”
Lazio conceded the opening goal for the third game running, but this time were unable to turn it around or really threaten Mike Maignan.
“I think the problem is that if you start sitting back and waiting with a flat midfield, the ball will filter through eventually. We should’ve pressed the opposition more.
“Clearly, this is a radical change of approach and thinking from the way this team had been playing. The team must have courage and defend in the opposition half. If you have to lose games and don’t even play your football, that’s no good.
“After a break for international duty, there is even more uncertainty for a side that doesn’t yet have a defined mentality.
“Our performance today was the opposite of what we had tried out during the week in training. This is something that disappoints me, but we have to evaluate the fact we are asking these players for things they are not used to.”
Ciro Immobile has been criticised during international duty for Italy for not replicating his form in a Lazio jersey.
“The media are not normal in the way they judge Immobile,” argued Sarri.
“France won a World Cup without Olivier Giroud scoring a single goal, but he remains a great striker. Numbers seem to count more for some players than others.”
Heads up and back to work lads.
C’mon Lazio💙🦅