Crespo: Gattuso's man-management explains Lazio's unbeaten start
Hernan Crespo tells La Gazzetta dello Sport that Lazio's run to the top of Serie A is built on Gennaro Gattuso's psychological hold over his squad, not just results.
Lazio sit alone at the top of Serie A after nine rounds, unbeaten with eight wins and a draw, and Hernan Crespo says the position is earned rather than fortunate.
The former Lazio, Inter and Roma striker made the case in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, reported by Football Italia, focused on Gennaro Gattuso's qualities as head coach and the scale of what Lazio have built this season.
Lazio reached the summit by beating 10-man Sassuolo 6-2 on Tuesday night, a scoreline that would have been heavier still had Mattia Zaccagni and Davide Frattesi not both missed penalties.
That detail matters more than it looks. A side that can put six past an opponent while missing two spot-kicks is not leaning on a single source of goals, which points to a squad with multiple players capable of finishing chances rather than one talisman carrying the attack.
Why Crespo credits the mind over the method
Gattuso has publicly played down talk of the Scudetto, warning that Lazio risk what he calls 'vertigo' if they spend too much time looking at the table rather than the next fixture. Crespo rejects that caution as unnecessary modesty, asking simply why Lazio should not be thinking about the title given the numbers.
His explanation for the run leans heavily on man-management rather than system or personnel. Crespo argues that before tactics and technique come into it, a coach has to win the psychological battle first, and that Gattuso has done exactly that by working on the mentality of his players and keeping them stimulated.
That is a specific claim about coaching method: it places Gattuso's value less in tactical design and more in building trust and application within the group, to the point, in Crespo's words, that his players would go to extreme lengths for him.
Crespo was unequivocal when asked whether Lazio deserve top spot. He pointed to the record of eight wins and one draw as self-evident, and said that anyone who criticised Gattuso during his time with the Italy national team will have to revise their opinion and apologise, while noting that football has a way of humbling such certainty.
Roma's different route to the same table position
Lazio are not alone at the top in spirit even if they are alone in the standings. Roma beat Cagliari 4-2 on Tuesday in a round of fixtures that produced 18 goals across three matches, and Crespo views Gian Piero Gasperini's side through a different lens entirely.
Where Lazio are this season's outlier, Crespo frames Roma's position as a natural progression from last season's form under Gasperini, calling it something closer to an expected outcome than a surprise.
What struck him about Roma was their physical output: a team that runs constantly and still retains clarity in possession. That combination of running capacity and composed decision-making in the final third is, in Crespo's description, what separates Roma's rise from Lazio's.
Asked directly which of the two looks stronger, Crespo declined to flatten the comparison into a single verdict. He reiterated that Lazio remain the bigger story of the season so far, while Roma are simply building on foundations already laid, before repeating his belief that Lazio, as he put it, can fly.
A Serie A table without precedent this deep into the season
The context around both clubs is itself unusual. Lazio, Inter, Roma and Milan have all gone unbeaten through the opening stretch of the campaign, and Football Italia notes this is the first time in Serie A history that four sides have managed it this late into a season's start.
That bunching at the top raises the stakes for Inter, who face bottom-placed Venezia on Wednesday evening knowing a win would close the gap on Lazio. Venezia's position at the foot of the table makes Inter clear favourites on paper, but the broader picture is a title race with four credible contenders rather than the usual two or three.
Crespo's intervention is notable less for predicting a winner than for reframing how Lazio's run should be read. His argument is that the number alone, nine games unbeaten with eight wins, settles the question of legitimacy, and that the explanation for it sits in Gattuso's handling of the dressing room as much as in anything drawn on a tactics board.
Whether that holds up depends on what happens when Lazio's fixtures get harder and the margin for man-management narrows. For now, the standings back Crespo's reading, and Inter's visit from Venezia offers the first chance for a direct response from the chasing pack.