Lazio 2021/22: An end of season evaluation of the chaotic Sarriball – tactical analysis

Lazio ended the Serie A season in 5th place, securing Europa League football in the last two weeks of the season. After collecting 64 points in the league, 4 fewer than the year before but having gained a spot higher, Maurizio Sarri the former Juventus manager will see his first season as a success. However, when you take a deeper dive, you will begin to see Lazio massively overperformed their underlying numbers.

In terms of expected goals, Lazio were expected to score around 59 goals in the league, although they achieved to score 77 in campaign. This overperformance of 18 goals was clearly down to excellent finishing from key players such as Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Whilst this is not a criticism of Sarri, this is something that should not be expected to be repeated every year, and a return to the norm will come next year. Lazio had less xG than any team in the top eight, yet scored more goals than every team but Internazionale.

Furthermore, Lazio were expected to concede more goals than eight of the other nine teams in the top half of the table. If teams achieved their expected points, Lazio would be sitting in eighth place, missing out on European football entirely. Lazio games saw 135 goals in 38, averaging 3.6 goals per game. Only games featuring Bordeaux and Borussia Dortmund saw more goals this season among the top 5 European leagues. Whilst these fine margins went Lazios way this season, Sarri will have to make changes to make sure he achieves European qualification without having to rely on extremely clinical finishing.

This scout report will feature a tactical analysis of how Maurizio Sarri set up Lazio during the season. It will also feature an analysis of how these tactics caused them to score and concede so many goals.

In Possession

Build Up

Maurizio Sarri likes his teams to build out from the back, through the goalkeeper, and slowly play through the thirds as the team moves up the pitch. They keep a 4-1 build up when the ball is in their third. This is to maintain security on the ball in what would be a dangerous area to lose the ball in. The ball is moved along the back line, with the holding midfielder giving depth to the build up, otherwise it would be too predictable.

In goal kick situations, one of the central defenders will pass the ball to the goalkeeper. This allows the ball to be in a central area, so teams cant force Lazio to go one way and box them in. During the build up, Lazio aim to escape the press through progressing it in wide areas. The goalkeeper usually waits to attract pressure, before playing a lofted pass over the top to a full back. In those wide areas, is where Sarri shows his creativity in playing through the press with his ingenuity.

As seen in the image below, one of Sarris methods to progress, is to bring lots of supporting players to the ball, which draws in opposition players all to one compact area. This leaves lots of space between the midfield and defensive line, where Milinkovic-Savic lurks into and is able to receive the ball under no pressure.

Sarri has also worked on creating 3v2s in wide areas where the full back, winger and central midfielder can combine to progress the ball thanks to numerical superiority. Working in wide areas is something Sarri prioritises, as opposition players have a dilemma as to whether they should press the ball, and vacate open spaces in the middle of the pitch, or simply let the Lazio players have the ball in a less dangerous position.

Another pattern Sarri has shown, is to move the full backs into central areas. He has done this by making sure the holding midfielder purposely runs into a wide area, dragging his marker away from the centre of the pitch. The image below shows how Lucas Leiva runs to the side so that Elseid Hysaj has space to move into and receive the ball centrally. Receiving the ball in a central area allows Hysaj to have passing options all around him, rather than having the whole right side blocked off by the touchline.