Maurizio Sarri highlighted Lazio’s need to rediscover fun on the pitch after their important win away to Cagliari.
The Biancocelesti ended a three-game winless run with an important 3-1 victory away to Claudio Ranieri’s Rossoblu on Saturday afternoon, a result that keeps them in the thick of the fight for a top four finish.
Pressure has continued to mount on Sarri this season, but Lazio have still managed to do well despite low investment, booking their spot in the Champions League knockout stages. They’ll face Bayern Munich in the Round of 16, with the first leg coming next week on Wednesday.
Speaking to DAZN via TMW after the match, Sarri first discussed Ciro Immobile’s 200th goal in Serie A.
“For us, if Ciro starts scoring regularly again, it’s a big deal. We need to find a balance between playing time and training to give him consistency. He scored an important goal, in a difficult position, let’s hope he can continue like this.”
The Biancocelesti coach commented on the importance of having fun on the pitch and the difficulties of facing Cagliari away.
“Fun for a team is very important. What counts is collective, contagious fun, if the team have fun on the pitch it keeps everyone in, even those watching the match. Today they did it at times, the match could have become dirty, and we tried to clean it up.
“Cagliari scored 15 of their 18 points at home, this is a difficult place to come. The danger was to leave the game still open in the final minutes. We did well to take control of the match after their goal.”
He responded to the accusations that Lazio are in a run of poor form.
“They tell us that we are in difficulty, but in the league, we have scored 16 points in the last seven matches. In this period, we are doing well, we have done badly before.
“Cagliari’s goal started from some wrong movements between midfield and defence which created a space in the middle.”
Finally, Sarri looked ahead to Lazio’s coming Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.
“We’re playing the Champions League match against a top-level team. It’s a very difficult match, bordering on prohibitive. But many teams would like to be in our place. I’m trying to help in every way.
“We were good during the week, we were all questioned, we talked among ourselves. We understood that perhaps we were losing the taste for fun. We need to start from here.”
Never mind “fun ” , how about trying a different formation Mister , instead of forcing players to play your dogmatic , tired system EVERY match regardless of opponent.