Sarri furious before Verona vs. Lazio: ‘Let’s get this over with quickly’

Maurizio Sarri was visibly furious during his pre-match interview ahead of Lazio’s Serie A match away against Hellas Verona on Sunday evening, claiming that ‘having me here talking to you is like violence against me, let’s get this over with quickly’. 

The Biancocelesti head coach has handed an immediate first-team debut to January signing Kenneth Taylor, who has had just one training session with his new club so far. 

You can see how the action from all of Sunday’s Serie A matches unfolds on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Taylor was announced as a new Lazio player on Friday, and has been handed a full debut right away following the departure of Matteo Geundouzi to Fenerbahce. 

Taty Castellanos has also been sold to West Ham, and replaced by Petar Ratkov, who starts among the substitutes on Sunday. 

“They only had one training session with us, it’s the first time in my career I’ve thrown someone into the starting XI after one session, which shows you the kind of difficulties we’re dealing with,” said a clearly irritated Sarri on Sky Sport Italia before kick-off. 

“I’ve got to tell you, having me here talking to you is like violence against me, pure violence, so please let’s get it over with quickly,” he continued. 

“We had one session yesterday, so there wasn’t time to get big indications on him. I know Taylor to a degree, I’ve seen him play in a couple of situations, so this is an emergency and we hope he can bring some quality.” 

Sarri does not deny the fact that Lazio need more signings beyond Taylor and Ratkov. 

“I’ve got objectives in my mind very clearly, which is to create a group and with a couple of new arrivals can be ready for a superior level.

“The disconcerting thing at Lazio is that every year feels like Year Zero, and that frankly makes it very difficult.”