Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri said that Napoli is the best team in Serie A following his team’s disastrous defeat in Naples yesterday.
The Biancocelesti were completely outplayed by Luciano Spalletti’s side at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as they lost 4-0. Piotr Zielinski opened the scoring after just seven minutes before veteran Dries Mertens scored two magnificent goals. Fabian Ruiz added a fourth through a scintillating left-footed shot.
After the match, Sarri told DAZN: “The team had made steps forward and, as is often the case, every four or five games we have a performance like this. The defects were even more obvious because Napoli put in an extraordinary performance and in my view is the best team in Serie A at the moment.
“It certainly wasn’t the right approach, because we didn’t help our case with the first two goals in the opening 10 minutes, and it was even more difficult from there. If we only press half-way, which we did for almost the entire game, against a team of great passers, naturally it’s going to go like this. We always started the press late and not as a team. We kept doing it individually and late.
“I see a team that struggles to always be focused. Playing every three days is difficult, but it is not acceptable to go from 10 to 1 in terms of intensity from one game to the next. We kept reacting on the reception of the ball, not the transmission of it, so we were always late.
“We need to understand what these ups and downs are coming from and try to fix them. It’s not easy. I expected everything other than this type of performance tonight. The problem is that the team just deactivates sometimes.”
Things were never going to be very good for Lazio after the arrival of Sarri given how different his style is from that of his predecessor Simone Inzaghi, While they have had some good moments, last night’s result just goes on to show that more improvements are needed.
Lazio are now eighth in the Serie A standings, seven points behind fourth-placed Atalanta. Their next match is at home against Udinese on Thursday and that is one many will be expecting them to win.