Maurizio Sarri Tactics At SS Lazio 2025/2026: Sarriball 2.0 In Rome – Tactical Analysis

Maurizio Sarri re-joins Lazio for a second spell, as announced by the club, following a 15-month break from coaching after leaving I Biancocelesti in March 2024.

His first spell with the club started in the summer of 2021 and lasted until March 2024.

He achieved historic results with the team, notably a second-place finish in Serie A in the 2022/2023 season.

The team’s fans are generally very pleased with this appointment.

They believe in Sarri’s ability to lead the team back to the top of Serie A and to compete regularly in the UEFA Champions League.

Following the end of Marco Baroni’s journey with the team at the end of this season, the club and its fans agree that the results have not been as successful as needed, given that Lazio failed to secure a European competition ticket, finishing in seventh place.

It is also agreed that the choice of Sarri comes to rescue the team from remaining in lower spots in Serie A or escaping the battle with the big teams, with the belief that Sarri is the coach who can lead them back to domestic success and achieve unprecedented results on a European level.

Lazio decided to appoint an experienced head coach who knows Lazio very well and will not need time to adapt to the specifics of Serie A.

This will help them win a lot of time ahead of the new season and start it in the best possible way, as they will have the time needed to prepare, experiment with the players, and get them used to Maurizio Sarri tactics.

In fact, Sarri has already worked with many of the existing players within Lazio’s squad, and this will be very time-saving for everyone.

Moreover, having the time and ability to discuss with the management which players to try buying and which ones will not be in the team’s plans will help Sarri build the team from scratch according to his preferences, but without destroying the core.

In this tactical analysis article, we will examine Sarri coaching style and application within the current Lazio squad.

The analysis will also discuss the available player choices and Lazios needs from the transfer window to reinforce the squad.

Maurizio Sarri Ideas & Playing Style

Sarri is a veteran head coach who has a long history of management in Serie A.

Given that he was a player for amateur teams and a banker at the same time, he did not initially have the chance to coach a Serie A or Serie B team as he was neither renowned as a football player nor experienced as a head coach.

That’s why his coaching career began in 1990 with Stia in the Seconda Categoria (the eighth level of the Italian football league system).

The following year, he was appointed head coach for Faellese and helped the team advance to the “Promozione,” the sixth level in the system.

After two years with Faellese, he helped both of Cavriglia and Antella reach the Eccellenza, the fifth level in the Italian league system.

This progressive climb through the Italian league levels helped Sarri develop significantly and learn a great deal during the process, while winning and confirming his ability to promote teams from one level to another in a short time.

Afterwards, he coached all of Valdema, Tegoleto, and then Sansovino, having promoted Sansovino to Serie D in his first season with them.

He also reached the playoffs with them and achieved remarkable successes with that team to attract the interest of Serie C2 side, Sangiovannese.

Sarri stayed for two seasons at Sangiovannese and helped them reach Serie C1.

In 2005, he moved to Pescara to coach a Serie B side for the first time, helping them avoid relegation.

He then moved to several other lower league sides, without achieving considerable success.

In 2012, Sarri was appointed manager of Empoli and led the team to Serie A after a ten-year absence, while proposing a convincing attacking style of football.

A few years later, Sarri was brought to Napoli and created a new playing style for the team that was very attractive to watch.

Sarri’s Napoli reached the second spot and were very close to winning the league title, but the battle with Juventus was not successful in the end, despite finishing the first part of the season at the top of the standings.

Sarri kept battling Juventus until the 2017/2018 season when they finished second behind I Bianconeri, despite losing key players in the meantime and knowing how to replace them effectively.

Sarri’s journey with Napoli ended that term, and he joined Chelsea for one season before getting back to Italy through the door of Juventus, with whom he won the Serie A title.

During most, if not all, of these extended coaching experiences, Sarri has consistently employed the 4-3-3 formation.

He believes that it is the one formation that helps him achieve his goals on the pitch and attain the maximum potential of the players according to his plans.

In other words, Sarri always imposes his playing style and attempts to make the necessary adjustments in terms of players’ positions and transfers to fit his system and the roles he needs on the pitch.

This also means that he does not just cope with what he finds or try to change things progressively, but rather immediately and in a radical way.

In fact, Sarri employs the 4-3-3 formation to achieve a particular, spectacular, and possession-based style of football that most of his teams succeed in mastering within a short period.

His ultimate success indeed happened at Napoli, the team with which “Sarriball” became renowned throughout the footballing world.

It is a playing style that relies on quick vertical possession, which breaks defensive lines, and that requires continuous and intelligent player movements without the ball in addition to accurate passing.

Sarri values accurate key passing between the lines and considers it a high priority in his training and player choices.

That also explains why he relies on specific players and significantly improves their value, while overlooking other players who, despite being good, lack the skills necessary for his strategy.

To confirm this, we can cite the example of Sarri’s goalkeeper choices and argue that he always prefers goalkeepers with outstanding passing skills in order to participate in the vertical passing plan and be useful in the build-up in a way that initiates the team’s attack properly and not just with a simple pass to one of the defenders.

Maurizio Sarri Vertical Passing System

The following picture highlights Sarri’s usage of goalkeepers in fastening the preferred vertical passing process to break line very quickly and be able to create the space needed at the back of the opposing defensive line.

This goal action was created mainly thanks to the goalkeeper Ivan Provedel’s vertical pass to his midfield teammate, who, in turn, passed the ball quickly to the winger, who made the movement to receive the ball centrally.

This quick vertical exchange allowed the winger to get some free space and have the possibility to pass to the right-winger, who crossed the ball to Valentín Castellanos to finish the action inside the net.

Sarri’s attacking system relies heavily on the players’ first touch and their ability to be quick, whether in terms of making passing decisions or executing such passes and movements.

The idea is also to have players move forward to provide a passing option, while other players come closer to each other to draw the opponent to a specific area.

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