Gattuso Warns Lazio Leaders: "If We Look at the Table, We Could Get Dizzy"
Gennaro Gattuso, still focused on the 40-point target set for this Serie A season, has warned his players not to look at the table so it does not go to their heads.
Gennaro Gattuso, still focused on the 40-point target set for this Serie A season, has warned his players not to look at the table so it does not "go to their heads".
Lazio came from behind to beat Cagliari 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico, sitting top of Serie A after matchday 10 for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Cagliari went ahead in the 20th minute through M'Bala Nzola, but a superb Gustav Isaksen strike nine minutes before the break sent Lazio into the dressing room level. With Inter having lost the derby to Milan, the capital club looked set to let the opportunity slip, but the winner came in the 83rd minute from a header by substitute Andrea Pinamonti.
The result means Lazio have won six consecutive Serie A matches for the first time since the run they put together under Simone Inzaghi between January and February 2021. The capital club have also scored at least 24 goals in the first 10 matchdays of a Serie A season for the first time since 2017-18. Even so, Gattuso stressed that many tough tests lie ahead over the course of the season.
"We are all at the top, but we still need 12 points to reach the 40-point target we set ourselves at the start of the season," the experienced coach said. "Every team in the league is balanced and well organised, so we have to take it game by game and see where we end up. Right now it is best not to look at the table, otherwise we could get dizzy. We have to work hard, rest and then fight again with everything we have."
Cagliari, who pushed Lazio hard, suffered their fourth consecutive Serie A defeat. Gattuso's side, along with Roma, are one of only two teams yet to lose in Serie A this season.
With Lazio set to face an out-of-form Napoli in the league before the international break, Gattuso said there is still room for improvement and underlined that the moment they lose their belief and determination, they will become "an ordinary team":
"We work and we don't complain; that is exactly the spirit that drives us forward. Because without that spirit we become an ordinary team. It was a very difficult game and Cagliari deserve credit, they really made it hard for us. The players who came off the bench changed the course of the match with the mentality they showed. It was a very important win for us and we did everything necessary to take the three points."