Gattuso: ‘It helped that Sassuolo were down to 10, defensive block wasn’t very good’

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Gennaro Gattuso has found flaws to pick at despite his Lazio side claiming an emphatic...

Gennaro Gattuso has found flaws to pick at despite his Lazio side claiming an emphatic 6-2 win away against Sassuolo in Serie A on Tuesday evening, insisting that the Biancocelesti need to work on their defensive block and their ability to ‘manage’ games after they go ahead: ‘It helped that they were down to 10 men’.

Lazio remain unbeaten in Serie A and picked up their eighth victory in nine league games away against the Neroverdi on Tuesday evening.

Kenneth Taylor opened the scoring after two minutes, Kristian Thorstvedt levelled after seven. Then came goals from Gustav Isaksen, Romano Floriani Mussolini and Sebastiano Esposito all before half-time. Mattia Zaccagni and Tijjani Noslin added three more after the break, while Zaccagni and Davide Frattesi saw penalties saved by Stefano Turati.

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Despite seeing his side score six on the night, and that it could have been eight had the penalties gone in, Gattuso was still concerned by his side’s defensive output and their game management after going ahead.

> “The thing I will take from this is the mentality,” said Gattuso after full-time.

> “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.

> “But, when we work and link well, we make it difficult for our opponents. We’re not looking at the standings, otherwise we’ll get vertigo. We’re taking things game by game.”

Lazio are now nine games unbeaten at the start of the Serie A season, but Gattuso is being realistic and says that it is a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ his side ends up losing.

> “I’m superstitious, but we also have to look at reality. 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 was grateful after a complimentary interview from former Lazio head coach Simone Inzaghi over the weekend.

In response, he said: “I’m pleased and I thank him. His Lazio were a very strong side. They were annoying, I remember them well. I thank Simone, it was an honour for me. If he says it, it’s great for me and for the team.”

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