{"id":1163277,"date":"2026-02-22T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/?p=1163277"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:40:00","slug":"three-things-we-learned-from-cagliari-vs-lazio-two-players-must-be-benched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/three-things-we-learned-from-cagliari-vs-lazio-two-players-must-be-benched\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things We Learned From Cagliari vs Lazio: Two Players Must Be Benched"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Things We Learned From Cagliari vs Lazio: Two Players Must Be Benched<\/p>\n

While Antonio Conte once argued that a draw is a half-defeat, Lazio fans might consider it too generous after witnessing their team\u2019s insipid stalemate against Cagliar<\/a>i.<\/p>\n

If the Serie A broadcasters were hoping for an action-packed contest in Sardania to light up their Saturday evening program, they obviously weren\u2019t paying too much attention to the Aquile\u2019s performances this season.<\/p>\n

Once again, Maurizio Sarri\u2019s men didn\u2019t look like scoring, at least not before the Isolani were reduced to 10 men following Yerry Mina\u2019s dismissal. The Biancocelesti launched a late onslaught, with Danilo Cataldi threatening on two occasions, but that was all she wrote.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s time to discuss three talking points from the uninspiring action at Unipol Domus.<\/p>\n

Nicolo Rovella Woes Emblematic of Lazio\u2019s Campaign<\/h2>\n

While Lazio\u2019s struggles can be attributed to dozens of reasons, Nicolo Rovella\u2019s constant absence is one of the most overlooked. It was only last week<\/a> that we emphasized just how important it is for the club to have the Regista back in action.<\/p>\n

But just when the 24-year-old appeared to be regaining his full fitness following his groin nightmare, he\u2019s now set for another lengthy spell on the sidelines<\/a> with a fractured collarbone.<\/p>\n

Watch: Lazio Can\u2019t Break 10-Man Cagliari Despite Late Onslaught \u2013 The Highlights<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Rovella, his physical struggles perfectly depict Lazio\u2019s miserable campaign, one that never took off the ground, and while it did offer occasional glimmers of hope, they were often dashed in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

Sarri wasn\u2019t exaggerating when describing the season as \u2018cursed\u2019.<\/p>\n

Nuno Tavares Worthy of a Chance Over Luca Pellegrini<\/h2>\n

Luca Pellegrini is a hardworking full-back who is absolutely dedicated to the cause of his beloved Lazio. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end. While the Italian isn\u2019t a terrible player by any means, he appears to have his technical limitations, especially in the attacking phase.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, Nuno Tavares is a much more efficient left-back going forward, as evidenced by the plethora of assists he produced during the early months of his previous campaign. Needless to say, the Portuguese has committed some costly howlers at the back, making Sarri reluctant to choose him as a starter.<\/p>\n

Player Ratings: Cagliari 0-0 Lazio \u2013 Sarri\u2019s Subs Add Late Flair<\/p>\n

However, if the manager is truly determined to build for the future, the main objective should be developing the club\u2019s more promising players.<\/p>\n

At this stage, Tavares is much more likely to emerge as a top-notch full-back than Pellegrini, as he only needs to improve his defensive awareness and refine some of his attacking skills, since he already possesses the pace and crosses to terrify any opponent.<\/p>\n

Daniel Maldini Must Be Dropped<\/h2>\n

While Pellegrini should make way for Tavares, Daniel Maldini must be relieved of his striking duties in favor of whoever is capable of maximizing Lazio\u2019s chances of finding the back of the net. While the stubborn Sarri insists on fielding the Atalanta loanee as a centre-forward, the team\u2019s goal-scoring threat has rapidly plummeted.<\/p>\n

In the manager\u2019s defence, he isn\u2019t exactly spoiled for choice, but it is about time Petar Ratkov gets a fair chance. However, Maldini shouldn\u2019t be cast away, but on the contrary, the versatile attacker can be devastating as a super-sub, perhaps emulating Tijjani Noslin, who often provides a timely boost when coming off the bench.<\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/three-things-learned-cagliari-vs-184000659.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Things We Learned From Cagliari vs Lazio: Two Players Must Be Benched While Antonio Conte once argued that a draw is a half-defeat, Lazio…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1163278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1163277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1163277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1163277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1163277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1163277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}