Maurizio Sarri was perplexed after Lazio’s infuriating 1-0 loss to Bologna, admitting his team ‘are poor from some points of view’ following another poor performance.
The Biancocelesti were mostly in control of proceedings at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara but failed to find the breakthrough as Thiago Motta’s side resiliently held onto their slim 1-0 advantage, which came through Lewis Ferguson in the 46th minute.
The result allowed Bologna to leapfrog Lazio in the league table and now the Roman outfit are at risk of slipping back into the bottom half of the table, depending on the results of the weekend.
Speaking in a press conference (via La Lazio Siamo Noi), Sarri first reacted to Lazio’s defeat to Bologna.
The first half we had territorial supremacy, 71% to 29%. Bologna possessed the ball in their penalty area. First half on the same levels as in Reggio Emilia. We didn’t find a goal and we conceded one at the start of the second half.
We were not very bad and the opponent’s penalty area was poorly filled. There was a lack of reaction after the deficit, which was more ferocious.
In terms of play, the first half of Reggio Emilia was the same. We are scoring less, and it is difficult to understand why, even though the attackers are the same ones and have the same way of playing.
He was asked if he expected more from his players.
I expected more fury in attacking, even in a more disorganized way. We are a poor team from some points of view, it’s quite evident.
The Lazio coach provided an update on the injured Adam Marusic.
Marusic has a cut on his Achilles tendon, it’s very swollen. He tried to come back but he couldn’t do it. I have no idea about Tuesday. We’ll wait for the response.
He touched on why the team have struggled in front of goal.
If Castellanos’ shot off the post goes in, it’s a goal because there was nothing there. We have less ease in finding the goal. It’s difficult to understand given that the attackers are the same.
Sarri was posed the idea that Lazio are looking listless on the pitch.
The team is anything but listless. The team makes a first half of this quality and then fades away. You’re trying to ‘zill’, as they say in Florence, and bring out something that doesn’t exist.
I can’t do anything about it, it was the best first half together with the one in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo. Today the approach was of a great level.
He weighed in on Bologna’s performance.
Bologna are strong, but the only match they didn’t deserve to win is tonight. They only had one chance and we had one and a half. I like Bologna, they have quality dribbling but today they didn’t have a good match.
He didn’t want to talk about the officiating.
If we lose and we talk about the referee… There are no sensational moments, half a penalty on Castellanos but this way we find excuses for everyone.
I wouldn’t talk about the referee tonight. We need to rediscover the ability to manage situations. It would be crucial.
Finally, Sarri was asked why he didn’t take off Luis Alberto.
I thought about letting him rest for 25 to 30 minutes but we went behind and it becomes difficult to remove the most qualitative player. Either you even leave him at home and don’t even bring him to the bench, or it’s difficult.
Lazio is not physical and fast enough in my opinion. Many balls are lost due to body contact. And the speed of players and also the speed of moving the ball is too slow for the opponents to predict and to react. Individual dribbling is not often seen compared to Milinkovic period. The drop of form of Ciro also took account to it.