Sarri: ‘Worried by Lazio mentality’

Maurizio Sarri did not hold back his irritation with Lazio after a defeat to Salernitana. ‘We did far too little, I am worried by the mentality of a team that struggles to find itself.’

The Aquile have now lost five of their last seven Serie A away fixtures and this is becoming a serious problem, as they risk sliding further away from the European places.

They had taken the lead at the Stadio Arechi this afternoon thanks to a Ciro Immobile penalty, but after the break Grigoris Kastanos and a swerving Antonio Candreva strike turned it around for the 2-1 Salernitana victory.

“We did too little, there’s no point using those who were absent as justification, nor an incredible refereeing error as clearly Norbert Gyomber should’ve been sent off,” Sarri told DAZN.

“If we take away those incidents and analyse the overall performance, we did far too little. There are players who are not delivering at the same level they did last season and clearly the responsibility also has to be mine if they’re not performing.”

At least Immobile seems to be nearing full fitness and finding some consistency, converting a spot-kick that was his 100^th Serie A goal scored in away fixtures.

“It’s good for him to have a bit more fuel in the tank, but if the team plays like this… Salernitana gave us time and space to move around in, but we too far too long to get into the position to shoot. Evidently, something is wrong,” shrugged Sarri.

“I don’t even know if it can be improved in training, because if we score just before half-time and think we can just control that lead for 50 minutes, then you risk defeat.”

Lazio have only 17 points from the opening 13 rounds, their worst start to a Serie A season since 2013-14.

Can the Biancocelesti turn this around in next week’s Champions League showdown with Celtic at the Stadio Olimpico?

“I am worried by the mentality of a team that struggles to find itself again. Sometimes the Champions League can perform miracles and hopefully provide a different mentality.”

There was more bad news for Sarri, because Mattia Zaccagni was carried off by medical staff after he threw himself at full stretch at a Felipe Anderson cross, landing very awkwardly.

Initial reports pointed towards an adductor strain, but those seemed to be incorrect.

“It is not muscular, it is the hip, so he will have tests and then we’ll see.”