Sarri: ‘I Made the Right Decision Leaving Lazio’

Maurizio Sarri opened up about his decision to resign from Lazio, where things went wrong and if he’d change things if he could go back.

The 65-year-old Italian coach surprised fans by unexpectedly resigning from his post back in March, bringing a sharp end to his three-year spell in the capital. He was replaced by Igor Tudor, who managed to turn the team’s form around quickly.

Sarri has been linked with a number of jobs in Serie A and abroad since his resignation from Lazio but hasn’t committed his future to any clubs yet. It’s likely that he’ll choose his next club in the upcoming summer break.

Speaking to SportItalia, Sarri first discussed his feelings 70 days after his resignation from Lazio.

I’m left with many feelings, even contradictory ones, it was a beautiful experience on a global level, we achieved the best result of the Lotito era. A hint of disappointment for the last month, but it can’t completely scratch the story of the three years.

In my opinion I made the right decision, the team needed a strong shock at that moment, at a certain point I realized that only I could give it by making a strong decision.

In the last month there was the feeling that, especially in the players who had been there for a long time, I was having a lot of trouble getting them out of a state of mental flatness. It was right to make a strong decision to remove them from a mental situation that made them play in a sad way.

He wasn’t interested in playing ‘sad’ football.

No, because with that attitude, even if you play them with mentality and order, nine out of ten times you lose.

The coach touched on how he’d been considering resigning for a while.

I told you that if I had to make a logical, selfish choice, that would have been the best one because it was difficult to repeat yourself on those levels.

The result (overestimated) was the result of an exceptional year, in a year in which teams that were on paper stronger than us in terms of personnel failed, a mechanism of excessively high expectations had been triggered. There were times when I could have resigned.

Sarri was asked if he’d change his decision if he could go back.

I don’t know, decisions must be evaluated based on the mood of certain moments. At Lazio I felt good with the team and the fans, I was grateful with a group of players who had had a very high level season.

I felt like I was cheating by leaving that moment. If you talk to me about the level of clear choice, maybe it was better. I cannot deny the choice I made with my soul and heart, less so with my head.

He touched on his decision to give up on the last year of his contract.

It’s also right, if you end up making that kind of decision, you have to pay the price too. In my opinion there are times when that choice must be made.

The former Lazio coach was asked if certain players contributed to his choice.

You cannot think that there is a particular situation behind it, I have no doubt about this. All that arose was a situation in which I had great difficulty eliminating the negative feelings that the group brought onto the pitch.

Immobile? It was a generalized aspect. The players who had been there for more years were in a difficult mental situation. Sometimes there are situations in which the team aren’t doing well mentally and there is a strong shock.

The new ones were probably in a different mental state. There are situations in which the team falls flat, I had faith in the players. The shock wasn’t coming, and I tried to give it.

Sarri tried to explain where things went wrong with Daichi Kamada.

You know, Platini struggled for five months when he arrived in Italy. It’s okay for a Japanese boy to struggle at the beginning, even though he was already in Europe.

Kamada in training showed that he was a good level player, I had no doubts about his good technical quality, in the months in which I was there he struggled.

He discussed the painful death of his mother.

The death of a parent is useless, it is just a painful experience. At a football level there are times when it is too easy to blame everything to justify yourself. With the staff we are trying to make a journey to see and understand where we went wrong.

We cannot solve the problems of the other components in the global situation, the responsibilities are never just on one side, but we are discussing to understand what we can do better.

Finally, Sarri discussed which personal aspects caused him issue at Lazio.

Probably many errors come out of the unconscious. Speaking with my staff I was disappointed by the summer transfer window, and I passed this dissatisfaction on to the team. On a ‘conscious’ level I had looked for players with the same enthusiasm as before.