Lazio, Fabiani says: “Rebuilding takes patience. The fans? We miss them. We’ll be holding a round-table discussion with them soon too”

“Every year is difficult. This has perhaps been the most challenging year, because it has coincided with a complete overhaul of the squad. As Sarri and the club have said, this is year zero. And when a rebuild is underway, there can be unforeseen circumstances. However, I must say that many of the points we’ve dropped along the way were undeserved. There have been many setbacks, and above all, Sarri has found himself taking to the pitch on several occasions without 6, 7 or 8 first-team regulars, as happened in Genoa, for example. To be fair, this obviously doesn’t just happen to Lazio; one need only look at what happened to Napoli. Unfortunately, these are the kinds of seasons that leave their mark, but the important thing is still to believe in what we’re doing, to believe in the project. We must stick to the plan and follow the path laid out for rebuilding the squad and, if we wish, for rejuvenating the squad by bringing in promising young players.”

“In a phase of such radical, total rebuilding as the one Lazio has been undergoing since I took over as manager, thinking about winning the league title, immediately securing a European spot, or winning trophies is pure fantasy. When you’re rebuilding, when you’re planning, when you have a vision, you have to anticipate that there may be such consequences and that certain objectives won’t be achieved straight away. But I am absolutely convinced that Lazio, precisely because of the plan and what we have set out to do – namely, a new cycle – will soon become a team capable of competing for a top-five finish in Serie A. We owe this to ourselves, to the fans, and to the club. I ask only for a little patience. The same patience that Sarri asked for when he took up the role of manager again. He said that to work with young players, you need patience to build things up, because they have to assimilate the system of play. But he also said that just as he would be patient, he would ask for the same level of patience from the whole club.”

“We’re not coping well with this crisis. There’s no doubt about it. If I put myself in the players’ shoes for a moment, I think about what it means to play without your own fans, to score a goal, to run over to your own end of the pitch and not see everyone celebrating; objectively speaking, that’s something we’re missing a bit. That adrenaline rush the crowd gives you when you’re on the pitch, which makes the ground shake – having it or not makes all the difference. I hope this issue can be resolved very soon. We’re organising a round-table discussion with all the stakeholders in the world of football – the media, fans, institutions – precisely to outline a new path for them. Because sometimes people don’t understand, and so the time has come, with objective data in hand, to inform the fans about what Lazio is doing today. I’ll say it again: playing without a crowd isn’t a good thing. It doesn’t give a good impression. Obviously, I’m not angry with the fans; on the contrary, I respect everyone’s opinion, fans and journalists alike. I have just one duty and task, and that is to focus on planning and ensuring that, as soon as possible, Lazio can field a competitive team in the top flight. In thirty years in football, I’ve always been involved in rebuilding; I’ve never managed a major team that had won the league title the previous year. I would have loved to work with Milinkovic, with Ciro Immobile who was scoring 35 goals, and why not with Luis Alberto and Felipe Anderson too. But I would probably have become complacent. It must also be said that when these lads arrived at Lazio, they struggled to settle in at first. For example, I remember Milinkovic. It’s true I was at another club, but I’ve always followed Lazio’s fortunes. He struggled a bit in his early years. Then he became the extraordinary player we all know. Ciro Immobile himself had a bit of a nomadic spell, even abroad, before arriving at Lazio. He faced a few difficulties, then started scoring 30–35 goals. When Sarri says we need to be patient, he probably also means that we need to give these lads a chance to settle in, to build a cohesive squad and a strong dressing room so we can enjoy some success. Unfortunately, we won’t find a free lunch anywhere; we have to believe in the work we’re doing. I believe in it wholeheartedly, and I hope that everyone who cares about Lazio’s fortunes will believe in it too.”

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