Lazio just ripped Sassuolo apart with a massive 6-2 win away from home, pushing their unbeaten Serie A streak to nine games this season. But even after dropping six goals, manager Gennaro Gattuso is already picking apart his side’s performance, pointing straight at their “defensive block” and how they manage games once they get ahead.
Six Goals of Fury, Yet Flaws Remain
What a night for the Biancocelesti offense, seriously. Kenneth Taylor got things rolling just two minutes in. Sassuolo’s Kristian Thorstvedt answered quick after seven, but then Lazio just opened the floodgates. Gustav Isaksen, Romano Floriani Mussolini, and Sebastiano Esposito all found the net before halftime. Then Mattia Zaccagni and Tijjani Noslin piled on three more after the break, with Zaccagni and Davide Frattesi even seeing penalties saved by Stefano Turati. Could have been eight goals!
But Gattuso is not just counting goals, he’s seeing the holes. He was straight up concerned by their defensive output and game management, saying, “The thing I will take from this is the mentality. When we are not being aggressive, we have to learn how to block defensively. Sassuolo are a very dangerous side and we weren’t very good on that front. It helped that they were down to 10 men.” Ten men! And he’s still worried about the defense. That tells you everything you need to know about where his head is at.
Unbeaten, But Grounded
Nine games into the Serie A season and Lazio hasn’t lost, that’s wild. But Gattuso isn’t letting anyone get ahead of themselves. He’s not even looking at the standings because, as he put it, “otherwise we’ll get vertigo.” He’s taking it one game at a time, being super realistic about it all. The guy is even superstitious about the unbeaten run, saying it’s a matter of “when” not “if” they’ll eventually lose.
“If we think about trying to manage the game or see it out, we start finding it difficult. We have to go and keep creating the situations that we are creating. We haven’t had any kicks in the teeth yet, so we’ll see when it happens. There’s only one way to go about it and that is by working hard,” Gattuso said. That’s a no-nonsense approach from the manager. He knows they have to keep pushing, keep grinding, even after a massive win like this.
Lazio is on a roll, absolutely. They’re racking up wins and goals. But Gattuso’s message is loud and clear: stay aggressive, fix that defensive block, and don’t get complacent. They’re showing what they can do on offense, but if they want to keep this run going, the focus has to be on shoring up the back. It’s all about that grind, game by game.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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