Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri wants to see a good reaction in tomorrow’s match against Inter.
Speaking to gathered reporters in a press conference (via La Lazio Siamo Noi) earlier today, the 62-year-old Italian coach first discussed what kind of response he expects from the team tomorrow, and what responses he has received so far.
We trained until yesterday with reduced numbers, it is difficult to understand the reactions when the players are around the world.
This is the current game, unfortunately it does not belong to me, I am a field coach. The players train more with the national teams than with us.
We are no longer watching football and a sport, but a show, all participants try to squeeze money from the fans. I’m old for this football, I’m in love with a different football.
I expect a response from more players, we played a superficial game, the 3 goals we conceded were born from embarrassing situations.
A lost ball, a lateral foul on our midfielder, a situation on which we did 10-12 training sessions. I don’t expect the reaction of professionals, but of men.
The Lazio coach provided an update on the status of veteran defender Stefan Radu, who has not featured yet this season.
Quite random, Stefan until recently has not given me the feeling of being in great condition, now I see him in clear growth.
He told me that after Covid he had difficulty in recovering, he could not do as well as before Covid.
It may be that it is true, what this disease leaves you with is still little known as it is only one year and a half old. In the last 10 days I have seen him grow, in this cycle he will have time too.
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Sarri touched on the importance of tomorrow’s match against Inter.
There are three points, it is not a game that can be a watershed for a team that has made a choice of changing like ours, it is a year of construction and transition.
The important thing is to lay the foundations, they can’t be playing a spectacular football now but find a minimum of solidity. Then we’ll try to satisfy the people, now we need solidity.
The Biancocelesti coach discussed the condition of talismanic forward Ciro Immobile.
Ciro has been training with us for a couple of days, he seems to be doing well, being out for a few days has also done him good.
We’ll see how the national team players are doing. Yesterday they trained with the group for the first time, but there were also players who had played 36 hours earlier.
He spoke about what kind of match he expects against Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri tomorrow.
After the international break I always have a certain type of fear, players come in who have trained and played in 8-9 different ways.
Unplugging and thinking differently, plugging it back in is not so obvious. There’s always an index of risk, especially mental risk. Better to play with an emblazoned team.
Sarri touched on what this Lazio team can achieve this campaign.
We can’t understand it now, we have to understand how much time we need to grow individually and collectively.
The former Napoli and Juventus coach commented on what his midfielders need to do to raise the level of the team.
We have a way of defending that requires that there is the total participation of the entire team, if we want to sit on the halfway line no one must miss the movement.
Something we lacked in the last game. We are a team that has as its objective leading the game, then it is useless to try to do so if you are set up wrong defensively.
We are making collective and individual mistakes. In this moment before thinking about other things we have to be a team that can go through 10 minutes of difficulty without conceding a goal.
Sarri discussed the conditions of the pitch at the Stadio Olimpico.
A lot of people have complained, the only one they responded to was me. Maybe they are particularly kind to me.
Mourinho complained and I didn’t hear an answer, the federation also thought of changing. The pitch of the Olimpico is not of a high level, but poor.
It’s useless to repeat the same things. They assured us that it will improve.
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The Lazio coach spoke about what the solution is to fix the team’s mental drops.
Finding an unequivocal answer to a mental problem that involves 30 people and an entire environment is difficult.
They change the coach, the players, maybe it includes the whole environment and not just the locker room.
We have to move forward without conceding anything to anyone. Do the work to find the solution without conceding to anyone, beyond the importance that one may have on the team.
Just thinking that the work can help us change the mentality. If not, we’re talking in generalities, when we compare notes in the locker room, the same two always speak, it’s difficult to understand what’s really in everyone else’s head.
A group that sometimes goes superficial, at the moment when they seem to be going in the right direction.
The great game for me was against Lokomotiv, that could have marked the beginning of the journey, I recognised myself in that team more than in the derby.
We took the game in hand, clean dribbling, attacking the space, that’s the path as the final goal.
He spoke about Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.
I don’t believe much in direct confrontations between coaches, it depends on the team you are coaching.
Now he is on the bench of the favourites, he has lost very little compared to last year.
I can’t talk about Inzaghi as a man because I don’t know him well, but he is a coach who has been doing well for years.
He was unsure which players he would start in tomorrow’s match.
I still don’t know the lineup I’ll deploy, right now I’m only interested in the team having a good reaction.
Finally, Sarri discussed the impact of defender Francesco Acerbi’s suspension.
No one has picked up the slack in this defensive line, Luiz Felipe is doing his job well but could elevate himself a bit as a driver of this line.
It’s not easy because they don’t have certainties about what I’m asking for, when they grow from this point of view it will be easier to bring out the personality.
