Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri was satisfied with the team’s performance in their 2-2 draw against Atalanta yesterday.
First speaking in an interview with Italian broadcaster DAZN (via LazioNews24) after the game, the 62-year-old Italian coach first commented on the performance of Spanish midfielder Luis Alberto.
Luis Alberto played a serious game like against Fiorentina, as a true midfielder with great defensive participation.
He is also starting to put in that extra quality that he has compared to the others. He is progressing well.
The Lazio coach touched on Atalanta’s late equaliser and the team’s performance in the match.
The goal in the end leaves a bitter taste in our mouthes because the match seemed to be won.
However, last minute goals do exist in football, today we were unlucky because we took the first with 4-5 seconds left in the half and the second with one minute left in the game.
However, there have been steps forward both in the game and on the character level, we hope to find the consistency that we are looking for.
Sarri discussed the growth of Italian midfielder Danilo Cataldi, who has begun to feature more consistently this campaign.
Cataldi is a player who has always had good technical qualities, even as a young boy. I tried to bring him to Empoli when I was there.
In the past he had problems playing there, now he is improving because he holds the position well. He has very good qualities both in dribbling and in contrast because he has great dynamism.
He touched on the improvements that he has seen in his squad.
The team seems to me more fluid, asking them to do certain things used to stop them a bit, now they seem more relaxed and can return to playing football normally.
The Lazio coach spoke about the performance of talismanic striker Ciro Immobile.
Immobile is generous, he manages to stay inside the game until the end, he is a difficult player to mark because as soon as you get distracted he punishes you.
Sometimes he starts the pressure too often but he gives a great hand also in the defensive phase. Sometimes we have to slow him down.
The 62-year-old Italian commented on what he wants to see next now from his players.
Playing against Atalanta is not easy, coming out clean from behind with them is difficult and risky.
We can improve in dribbling but everything comes out if we have the right mental conditions like in the last two games.
If we can maintain this there will be games in which we can dribble better, today was not easy.
Sarri then discussed the game in an interview with Lazio Style Radio.
We suffered a bit at the start, then we came out well and conceded very little. We had the ball for the 3-1, unfortunately we were also unlucky because we got the goals at the end of the two halves.
As I said before to the boys, we have to accept them because they are part of football, they always happen.
We mustn’t accept the points we lost in Bologna. Today we put in a good performance, also in terms of character, against a strong team.
He looked ahead to the Biancocelesti’s next match against Olympique Marseille next week.
A team that is more technical than Atalanta, but less aggressive.
What interests us is that today we understood that physical energies can be recovered and that mental energies make the difference.
I hope the guys grow from this point of view and they are doing so.
The 62-year-old Italian coach touched on why Manuel Lazzari did not start against Atalanta.
He was in a special condition, he played the whole game three days ago, he had a daughter born, yesterday he was destroyed.
Choice from a mental reason.
Sarri was happy that Immobile scored his 159th goal for the club, tying him with Silvio Piola’s all-time club top scorer record.
I am happy for the records he is putting together, he deserves it for his commitment and hard work, attachment to the shirt and to the group.
It’s nice to see him play and everything shines through.
I hope that the goals to be scored are more than those scored already.
He spoke about Cataldi again.
He was technically strong even when he was a kid, but he struggled to find a definitive position. His technical qualities are high level, his dynamism too. He can become a very important player.
Finally, Sarri discussed the morale in the squad following the late equaliser against Atalanta.
They’re still in the p*ssed off phase, they feel cheated of a result they deserved.
Then they’ll think that a goal in the 93rd minute is part of football and that what they need to think about is why they didn’t play some games.
