Sarri: ‘Lazio hopeful, but Kamada and Felipe Anderson a problem’

Maurizio Sarri hopes Lazio have turned a corner with their first comeback win of the Serie A season against Frosinone, but admits Felipe Anderson and Daichi Kamada are a problem.

The Aquile had faced an uphill struggle at the Stadio Olimpico when Matias Soule converted the penalty for a Matteo Guendouzi handling offence just shy of the hour mark.

However, the turnaround was swift and brutal, as in the space of 120 seconds Taty Castellanos scored one and assisted the other for Gustav Isaksen.

Patric added a third on a corner at the back post, with Isaksen also clipping the woodwork and Castellanos seeing another goal ruled offside.

This is the first time all season in Serie A that Lazio have won from a losing situation.

“There are two things that give me confidence for the future. The first is that we went behind against the run of play and the second is the reaction of the stadium to going a goal down,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.

“It was a moment where they could’ve jeered, but instead they supported us and took us to a reaction that showed real character. That is something we have lacked at other times.

“We took control of the match, showed authority and determination, so the final result could even have been bigger.”

 With Luis Alberto, Ciro Immobile, Alessio Romagnoli, Nicolò Casale and Manuel Lazzari out for this game, it gave the new Lazio signings like Castellanos and Isaksen an opportunity to finally step up and make their mark.

“Clearly, some players needed a little time, that was inevitable. Castellanos is a little more experienced, whereas Isaksen is young and came from a very different league. In fact, I think Isaksen adapted much quicker than expected and was only stalled by the injury.

“Castellanos had a weight on his shoulders and had to shake that off, which became obvious by the way he played after scoring that goal.”

Patric found the net this evening, but above all the Lazio defence as a whole is not as weak as it was early on in the campaign.

“At the start of the season, the team was not protecting the defence. Now the situation has changed a little, but also Patric and Gila are doing well. The only problem might be their lack of physicality, but they have good technique and play out from the back with skill,” explained Sarri.

“Of course, that is largely irrelevant because we cannot play out from the back on this pitch. It would be a form of suicide.”

While some new signings are having an impact, former Eintracht Frankfurt star Kamada still seems to be rather lost in the Lazio midfield.

“Kamada is the most difficult to understand and that is a problem. He is shy and keeps things inside, so it is difficult to draw out of him what is not working. I hope he will, because we’ve seen flashes of a very good player.”

Felipe Anderson has never been a consistent figure, but Sarri admits this time he had to take the Brazilian off at half-time because he was visibly on an off day.

“Felipe is certainly not having a positive period of form. I was so convinced he would do well tonight, as he was devastating in training, and even started well the first 15 minutes of the game, but then lost the ball a couple of times in banal fashion and just switched off. This time, I had to intervene, with all the respect and admiration I have for this lad.”