The choice of a training retreat since Tuesday of this week (for five days) to try and reunite Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio. In the last month in all competitions, Lazio have only had two victories – one in the Serie A TIM which was a 4-1 victory over SPAL on November 4th, and the second a 2-1 victory over Marseille in the Europa League on November 8th. With great desire to regain top form, the biancocelesti need to turn around their performances fast if they are to secure a Champions League spot they desperately want heading into the second half of the season; the first match to try and do this will be against Sampdoria tomorrow at 20:30. In the press conference, Simone Inzaghi spoke about the upcoming clash.
“We like an engulfed Ferrari, according to Claudio Lotito? I think the president and Igli Tare have used nice words, their proximity is witnessed by me every day. I’ve been here for 20 years, I know the environment where I work very well. It will be my concern to always get the team to full speed: I was disappointed with the performance in the Europa League and the Chievo approach, and if that post hit by Immobile was a goal it would have been a different week in your judgments. We have analyzed the match: the withdrawal was not punitive, but useful to make an analysis, to get closer with each other.”
“Fourth place should not be an obsession: we come from two seasons finishing fifth. Two years ago in the Champions League, there were only three clubs – last year, a few days from the end of the season, we were fourth. We know what our goals are, we must live everything more peacefully. It does not have to be an excuse, that’s why we were together for the past week analyzing what happened, using video and field sessions. I found full availability from a mature group but we have to improve. We are fifth at -1 points from fourth, like last year, despite having scored 15 more goals and offered better performances”.
On the challenge against Sampdoria: “Surely Marusic will not be in the game. Leiva is partially returning to the group: I am not convinced of his selection yet, he probably will not play as we have so many matches coming up. We will continue to evaluate him. Sampdoria is an organized team, they have a great coach and he will come to Rome to play his best game creating problems for us. We want to have an excellent performance, we want to continue to have a good ranking. And certainly behind Immobile, we can see two between Caicedo, Correa, and Luis Alberto, as in Verona: I’m using a new solution that will be possible to repeat”.
