Gattuso Leads Lazio to Three Straight Wins and Top Spot, Creating Club's Best Start Since 2012

According to French media outlet Foot Mercato, Lazio manager Gennaro Gattuso, who was questioned just one month ago after a shock Italian Cup exit, has quickly changed the situation. Lazio have won all of their first three Serie A matches of the new season, reaching the top of the table with nine points. This is the first time since the 2012/13 season that the club have achieved three consecutive league victories at the start of a campaign under a new head coach.

Gattuso faced considerable pressure when he took charge of Lazio. Several months earlier, while managing the Italy national team, he was eliminated by Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, before moving to Rome to take over Lazio. At the same time, the club was dealing with severe financial restrictions and large-scale protests from supporters against chairman Claudio Lotito.

Because they failed to meet relevant financial requirements, Lazio could only operate under a 'balance between income and expenditure' principle this summer. The club had to generate revenue through player sales before registering new signings. This significantly limited sporting director Angelo Fabiani's room for maneuver in the transfer market.

The start of the season was once extremely difficult. Lazio were eliminated early from the Italian Cup after losing 0-2 at home to Serie B side Mantova in the first round. Only 5,528 spectators attended the match at the Olympic Stadium that day, and Gattuso came under heavy criticism as a result.

However, Lazio completed several signings during the final stage of the transfer window. Davide Frattesi joined on loan from Inter Milan, Andrea Pinamonti arrived from Sassuolo, Martin Sutalo came on loan from Ajax, and Albert Gudmundsson joined on loan from Fiorentina.

The report stated that Lazio's immediate spending on these major deals totaled around 11 million euros. At the same time, the club maintained a positive transfer balance by selling players including Mario Gila, Alessio Romagnoli and Ivan Provedel.

Although the team's results have clearly improved, fan protests against the club's management have not stopped. Lazio's season ticket renewals in the first phase of this season were only slightly above 2,000, compared with nearly 30,000 a year earlier. The boycott against Lotito, banners and empty stands have continued, and supporters rejected Fabiani's previous call for a temporary truce, although they said they would continue supporting Gattuso and the team away from home.

In this environment, Lazio have enjoyed a perfect league start. They won 1-0 away against Bologna in the opening round, followed by a 1-0 home victory over Genoa, and then came from behind to beat Udinese 2-1 away after conceding first.

As a result, Gattuso became the first Lazio head coach since Vladimir Petkovic in the 2012/13 season to win his first three Serie A matches in charge.

After the match, Gattuso said: "I want to congratulate these players, but we must continue working hard. The team showed mentality and a desire to win. We looked at everything again and tried to do some things differently, which was not easy. However, we have not achieved anything yet."

"After the Italian Cup defeat, we made a good response. Now we must continue on this path and take it one match at a time."

Lazio currently have nine points from their first three matches, scoring four goals and conceding only one. The new signings have already begun to make an impact. Frattesi scored again against Udinese, while the newly arrived Gudmundsson helped the team complete the comeback late in the match.

One month ago, Lazio were in crisis due to their Italian Cup exit, financial restrictions and fan protests. Now the team sit at the top of the Serie A table, and Gattuso has quickly changed the outside perception of him.