Gennaro Gattuso admits Juventus are stronger than Lazio, but insists his Biancocelesti will travel to Turin on Sunday without fear.
Lazio sit near the top of Serie A with 16 points from their opening six games and are chasing a third consecutive win after beating Monza last weekend.
With quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, the coach spoke at his pre-match press conference at Formello, where he played down the significance of the table so early in the campaign.
“Tomorrow is the seventh round, so that’s reductive, because there will still be 31 games to go,” he said. “We have to go to Turin aware that we are facing a great team that has reaped less than it has sown. What interests me is courage. We have to play a game of mentality, without fear. They are stronger than us, but I want to see a team that takes them on and trades blow for blow. Being afraid gets us nothing. We are on a journey and we have to improve game by game. We are doing a lot of good things, but I want to see further improvement. No fear, no fright.”
The coach expects a varied threat from a Juventus side who have reshaped their squad.
“We’re playing a team that can play with two, three or four attackers,” he explained.
“They’ve changed a lot. They’ve scored three or four goals from crosses and they systematically get bodies back into the box. They are physical at set pieces and have pace out wide, which is why tomorrow we’ll need a lot of courage. If we hide away in the shed, we won’t get anywhere. We have to go hard, at very high intensity, and then we’ll see. They are a great team.”
Gattuso wants that intensity sustained throughout, without sacrificing defensive shape. “It can and must be done, but then we’ll also need to be good at forming a defensive block,” he said.
“It will depend on the different areas of the pitch. Even when we regroup and form a block, we must always look to nip forward. When there’s no pressure on the ball, with their quality, they will always put you in difficulty. We’ll need mentality and desire.”
Gattuso on Belahyane, Lazio blackouts and Pellegrini return
Gattuso said his whole squad has impressed him, singling out Belahyane’s resilience.
“We have increased the minutes in training and revved up the engine, and the squad always works with great seriousness,” he said.
“We have a duty to grow. We also watch games like yesterday’s, where it’s played man-to-man, and if you get something slightly wrong they put you in difficulty. We need to read situations better. Against Monza I had a clear picture of the situations, and the problem is always there: we fall asleep and don’t get into our preventive positions. Against Monza, even five against two, they were always the ones winning the ball, and at that point you have to do a lot of running backwards.
“All the players are surprising me. In ‘97, when I started, you took three players on the bench at Glasgow Rangers, and I’m not talking about 1950. Then I played for many years with three substitutions. Now there are five, which means you can change 50 per cent of your outfield players. Football has changed, and players have to be ready because they can always make an impact. The credit for all those who are doing well after finding little space last year goes to them, because they are pushing hard. At the start, Belahyane couldn’t finish training sessions and would come to my office to apologise, but he doesn’t need to apologise to me. He is pushing and playing a leading role, like others.”
The former Milan midfielder also addressed the criticism he has faced during his coaching career.
“If I had listened to everyone who commented on me over my 17-year career, I would have achieved a quarter of what I have,” Gattuso said.
“I think that, in these years as a coach, not everyone has been honest with me. I’m not a whinger. Only one team wins, and then you have to look at the work done over the years. Fortunately I don’t lack anything. I love this job because football gives me butterflies in my stomach, and after two or three months at home I miss it.
“I enjoy this job more than when I was playing; I feel it’s more mine. Then in life you always have to prove yourself. There will be negative moments and smacks in the face. You have to accept them and move on. Today I’m a different coach from when I started 12 years ago. I have more knowledge, but there’s always something to learn and improve. There are many colleagues who come up with something different every year, so you always have to stay up to date and study to find different solutions.”
Gattuso also explained what Lazio must avoid in possession.
“We mustn’t play line to line, making pointless one-metre passes. We lost a lot of balls playing out after Monza’s goal. We need to occupy space better, both in and out of possession. We can improve, but it’s not a physical issue, because you run far more chasing opponents than staying with your marking references. We need to be smart in understanding the game and occupying the pitch in the best way.”
Gattuso: ‘Pellegrini back in the squad, Taylor an important player for us’
Gattuso confirmed Pellegrini has been brought back into the squad but kept his line-up under wraps.
“Pellegrini has been reinstated to the squad list and will travel with us. The club decided that, and he is fully available,” he said. “I won’t answer on the line-up, because I’d be giving the others an advantage. We’ll put out our best team.”
Lazio’s recurring lapses in concentration remain his biggest concern, and he admitted they have been fortunate.
“We mustn’t have the 15 to 20-minute blackouts we keep having,” Gattuso said.
“Against Monza, from the 57th minute onwards, we suffered little, but in those minutes, if they had scored three goals they wouldn’t have stolen anything, and against Milan it was a carbon copy. In Venice it was the same for 20 to 25 minutes, and that’s where we need to improve. We mustn’t get overrun. We need to hold the pitch better and read things better. We have to improve, because we’ve been lucky, and we have a goalkeeper with more than four goals prevented who is papering over the cracks. We have to improve if we want to keep going like this.”
Finally, Gattuso praised the impact of Taylor.
“When we play through our chains on the flank, he makes them work well. He drops deep and helps us get out of the first press,” he said.
“I complimented him, because at the start he didn’t press like this, whereas now he goes at it with real vehemence. He’s a very important player for us, both in and out of possession, and I can see what he gives the team. His runs in behind when we work the chains also give us great solutions. Then we have to decide whether to keep him or Nuno in the central zone. It’s a question of occupying space and developing play well through the chains. For me he’s doing very, very well.”