Tudor: ‘Happy With the Work Done, Confident for Future at Lazio’

Igor Tudor reflected on his first few months at Lazio, the preparations ahead of next season and his plans for the summer.

The Croatian coach has helped stabilise things in the Italian capital since taking over from Maurizio Sarri back in March, quickly managing to find a rhythm with his squad. He has already started to get the most out of players like Daichi Kamada and Valentin Castellanos.

Lazio are on the cusp of securing a spot in the Europa League and have already started planning out their summer transfer window, needing to bring in a number of reinforcements to give Tudor the right players to compete on multiple fronts in the 2024-25 season.

Speaking in a press conference (via La Lazio Siamo Noi), Tudor first discussed what he wants to see from Lazio against Sassuolo.

An important match because everything is open and we want to play a good match. I expect Lazio to be the best as possible against a team that have already been relegated, but I never trust anything or anyone. We have prepared the match to give our best.

He was asked if Atalanta would be a model to follow for the Biancocelesti.

We all know Gasperini’s football well, for years he has done well as a coach and so has the club. It is a model to follow in order to have a team of that level. It is a project to give a certain idea and importance to the team, but not only in Italy, also in Europe and in the world.

There are people who are perfect, people who can do it and people who struggle more always, and they have always given their best, we arrived at this match well. Then we will sit down and make our assessments.

Tudor provided an update on Daichi Kamada.

He wants to stay, in these days he will meet with the club and they will try to renew. We hope that this thing will be concluded as soon as possible.

He commented on where the team can improve ahead of next season.

I think we didn’t miss anything, in fact we did many good things, doing well from the first to the last match, then you can’t win them all, not even City and Real Madrid can do it. I’m happy with the work done and confident for the future, there is a good basis to do well. The balance is positive.

The Croatian coach discussed the kind of players he wants in his squad.

We will discuss it, all the clubs want strong, young players. Everyone wants young phenomena who can lead you to results straight away.

You have to see and be good at creating the team, as in every sector of work, quality is needed and you have to be good at choosing well, at that point we’ll have a good season, otherwise we won’t do well.

Skill is what makes the difference. We’ll see if we’ll be able to do the job on the market in the right way and make everyone happy.

Tudor reflected on his first few months with Lazio.

I felt important in every aspect. When we spoke at the beginning these were the agreements, otherwise I wouldn’t come. Lazio have always given importance to the coach and this is one of the reasons why I’m here.

I’m fine, I think we’ve had the right two and a half months with the director, now we need to plan well for next season, otherwise we’ll suffer, I want to be important with the choices, I think the support is there, then we’ll get to work after tomorrow’s match.

He gave his thoughts on Felipe Anderson.

The boy I saw is a boy that everyone would like to have in their family, he is exceptional, too good from a human point of view.

He always smiles, he doesn’t make trouble, he offers his support, these are human values that everyone would like to have in the locker room. Then there is the player who is complete, plays with both feet and on both flanks.

He spoke about Lazio’s mental growth.

From a mental point of view, we have grown enough, the last match is indicative, we went there playing a complete match and with the right mentality.

These are important signs for me. I saw all Lazio’s matches against Inter, they’re out of this world, then not all matches can be at the same level, some mistakes have been made. Then I still have to discover something about my players, but it’s normal for the future.

The Croatian coach wasn’t concerned regarding his team’s focus on the closing stages of matches.

In Milan Gila couldn’t take it anymore and that forced change penalized us. These are details that sometimes happen to all teams, it’s part of football, but I don’t think there’s anything particular to worry about.

Finally, Tudor discussed where Sassuolo can prove dangerous.

From all points of view. Sassuolo don’t deserve relegation as a squad. I don’t trust anything or anyone, I’ve already talked about it with the boys. There are thousands of examples of matches that seemed already won and aren’t, I prepared it as a final.