Maurizio Sarri hails Sergej Milinkovic-Savic as ‘one of the best players I’ve ever worked with’ after Lazio swept Salernitana aside 3-0.
It was short work at the Stadio Arechi, with Ciro Immobile bagging a brace in the opening 10 minutes, including on a cheeky Milinkovic-Savic back-heel flick assist.
Immobile also hit the underside of the crossbar and Manuel Lazzari completed the rout on the counter-attack.
“We’ve made progress in the areas we’ve been working on for months,” Sarri told DAZN.
“Our performance against Inter wasn’t bad, so we’re starting to see a little consistency at last and I hope it carries on like this. If we took out the results that were straight after our Europa League games, we’d be in a much stronger position. The inability to recover that focus from Europe really did damage us.”
Milinkovic-Savic put in another splendid performance and Sarri was full of praise for the Serbia international.
“I have coached many great players, but he is one of the best I’ve ever worked with. His progress over the last two months has been excellent and he really can take another step up in quality. He used to lose the ball too cheaply, but now he plays with more determination.
“Immobile too has improved in the way he plays with the team and of course is phenomenal in the box. Now he opens up spaces for his teammates too.”
Lazzari seemed very irritated when celebrating his goal, taking off his shirt and throwing it, as he has been Lazio’s forgotten man this season.
“It is not Lazzari’s fault, it’s just that the team found a certain solidity and he is better when attacking than defending, so at a certain point of the season we couldn’t afford to use him. Hopefully, we can retain the balance with him too.”
Former banker Sarri caused some hilarity last week when saying even he hadn’t fully understood what the liquidity index was, the rule effectively barring Lazio from buying any new players until they have sold some first.
“I have started studying it, but I don’t understand why there are some clubs who are in debt and yet their liquidity index allows them to invest in new players.
“The club knows what I need. If we do it straight away, we’ve got three or four months to work with them, otherwise we’ll have to do it in July.”
#Lazio, le parole di Maurizio #Sarri al termine della partitahttps://t.co/qlrx4OySsQ
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) January 15, 2022
Mister, do your magic we Adore you !