Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri is concerned about the possible return to playing behind closed doors ahead of tomorrow’s match against Inter.
Speaking to gathered reporters in a press conference (via LazioNews24) earlier today, the 62-year-old Italian coach first discussed the current state of the Biancocelesti.
We’re both, a defence in difficulty and an attack that scores. What I regret is that the result against Empoli affects the judgement on the performance. In attack we weren’t consistent, but we had quality.
At the back we’re making a few too many mistakes, both individually and as a department. But I’m not just talking about the defenders, strikers and midfielders also make mistakes.
We’re having problems in our approach, we’re working on it, but I don’t think we underestimated the game against Empoli. The first goal we conceded was a fluke, the second wasn’t, we concede it too often in training, a team concedes a goal and then concedes another a few minutes later.
The Lazio coach touched on the performances of winger Mattia Zaccagni.
He can become a key player. For two months he was slowed down by injuries, now he’s in excellent physical and mental condition. He still has room for improvement.
Sarri looked ahead to tomorrow’s match against Inter.
A difficult match, but I would like to see a courageous Lazio. Inter are strong, they have extraordinary stats and the San Siro is not an easy stadium.
He touched on the Biancocelesti’s defence and who can fill in for the injured Francesco Acerbi.
Leiva could also play as a central defender, I think he played it for almost a year at Liverpool. He also did it in Venice, in a small part of the game. He’s an intelligent guy.
Radu has given us great signs in the last month, so it’s right to take him into consideration. Radu has done well at full-back, but he can play in the centre without any problems.
The 62-year-old Italian coach discussed Toma Basic and Felipe Anderson.
He’s doing well. He didn’t have a muscle problem but a pubic pain problem. Now he seems to have no pain. I think he’s a player who is eligible to play.
Felipe is phenomenal, but you also have to accept his flaw of drastically reducing his performance.
The feeling before Empoli was that he was back to 100%, both mentally and physically. It would be extraordinary if he could limit his ups and downs.
He provided an update regarding his possible contract extension.
I don’t know if the contract has arrived, I didn’t phone my lawyer before the game. If it arrives, we’ll sign it.
Sarri commented on Acerbi’s injury and the January transfer window.
I don’t know what kind of injury he has, he still has to do the tests, then we’ll see.
We don’t talk about the transfer market every day, we have to be on the ball for our games. Others think about the market.
The Lazio coach discussed the ongoing COVID situation and the possibility of playing games behind closed doors.
It concerns everyone’s life, not just sport. If this pandemic is dangerous there should be a total lockdown, otherwise it’s downgraded to flu and you stay at home with a fever.
I just hope we don’t end up with closed stadiums. It makes people who are as passionate as I am lose the desire to go out on the pitch.
Finally, Sarri discussed the lack of balance in the Lazio team.
Against Udinese we conceded 3-4 counter-attacks in the open pitch, but in the last match we conceded 3 goals with a team lined up.
I find it difficult to talk about imbalance with everyone behind the line of the ball. This imbalance did not affect the goals conceded in the last match, there is something that goes beyond this.
