The drama surrounding Lazio right now is growing really tiresome, on multiple levels. We have actual issues; there is no need to compound them with fake ones.

The first case involves Ciro Immobile. He'll be thirty four on his next birthday; meanwhile the ravages of time come for everyone: he's not the player he was even just a couple of years ago, and in fact the writing was on the wall last year-- which is why Sarri did nothing but complain all season about not having a "vice-Ciro". So Lotito delivered him a "vice-Ciro" over the summer: Taty Castellanos. The idea was that Castellanos could "spell" Immobile for stretches of the season, so the latter could stay fresh.

Instead, Sarri has played Ciro almost every minute of the season so far, across multiple competitions-- theoretically, in the hope that Immobile will play himself into form, or something along those lines. Further, a narrative has developed that during the rare minutes when Ciro isn't playing, that he's been "benched".

Every football team on the planet rotates players, at every position. At Lazio, we routinely rest Casale or Romagnoli, and let Patric play; or we give Marusic a rest, and put in Hysaj; or we rest Cataldi, or Zaccagni, or Felipe, and put others in those spots. The logic shouldn't be any different for Ciro, and indeed I see all sorts of other football clubs resting their star center forwards, even when those players are significantly younger than Immobile.

Even though Ciro is not playing well, the "controversy" surrounding his situation is contrived.

The second case involves this past loss, to Milan. We went thirty years-- three decades-- without winning against Milan at the San Siro. Even though we finally "broke that duck" recently, that's one victory in over thirty attempts. I knew that, statistically speaking, we'd probably take nothing from the game-- indeed, I was more interested in how we played, not what the result was. And the outcome was positive!

Sure we were outclassed, which is no surprise going against a team which has run massive deficits for a zillion years prior, and which has a huge payroll. But the important point was that we look like we're starting to figure things out: we actually knew how to move the ball around, and Sarri has come to a definitive conclusion that if we play Kamada and Alberto together, the midfield becomes too light weight

A rational analysis concludes that a loss to Milan was unsurprising, and that we showed positive signs of growth. Instead? "We lost to Milan, the sky is falling!"

Also lost in that conclusion is that if you compare the results from this year to last year in terms of equivalent fixtures, the results are almost identical! The fact is, the league screwed us-- whether deliberately or not-- by making the opening of this season's schedule a worst-case, nightmare scenario. Based on the improvement we've had since the season opener, I think we'll be competing for a solid sixth place this year when all is said and done.

The third case involves the transfer window. Sarri took a shot at Lotito after the Milan game, indicating that the president didn't give him the players he'd wanted: "I wanted Berardi and Zielinski and Frattesi!"

Taken one at a time: Sassuolo were asking thirty million for a soon-to-be-thirty Berardi; it was so unenticing, that numerous other clubs with significantly larger coffers than ours declined-- and guess where Berardi is still playing, this season? Zielinski is even more irritating: he said a hundred times that he had zero interest in playing for us; what was Lotito supposed to do-- kidnap the guy, put him into a sack, throw him into the trunk of a car, and drive him to Formello against his wishes? Frattesi was a similar situation-- he did not want to come here, and when Inter were put on his plate as a possibility, he gobbled it up instantly!

If I hear Maurizio Sarri say the name "Zielinski" one more time, I will personally fly to Italy and find a new coach for the team. He needs to let it go, and work with the-- rather excellent, I might add-- players he was given: Rovella looks like freaking Andrea Pirlo, while it's arguable that Kamada and Guendouzi are just as good of footballers as "Invisible half the time" Sergej was: they are different footballers, for sure, but it's the coach's job adapt the tactics to suit their unique skills!

Which all comes full circle back to Immobile: part of why Ciro has such terrible stats is because of the dastardly "Sarriball" 4-3-3, which puts every single player miles away from his teammates, each on his own little island, expected to create magic all by himself. Every time we get the ball into the final third, Immobile is standing in the box by himself, surrounded by five opposition players: how is he supposed to get the freaking ball, much less create any shooting opportunities?

I see positive signs that "The System" is working much better than it was at the beginning of the season. But everyone in and around the Lazio camp needs to chill out, and stop creating problems we don't have.