Nuno Tavares opened the scoring with a powerful long-range strike in the third minute, before Gustav Isaksen doubled Lazio’s advantage in the 23rd minute after a pass from Tijjani Noslin. Monza’s difficult first half worsened when Lorenzo Lucchesi was sent off in the 35th minute for bringing down Noslin as he advanced towards goal.
However, Saba Goglichidze pulled one back immediately after the interval, heading home from a corner to give Monza renewed hope. The visitors created further opportunities to equalise, but Andrea Pinamonti settled the contest in the 88th minute.
Gattuso was angry with Lazio’s failure to control the game after the break, despite praising their first-half display.
“In the first half, if it had finished 4-0, nobody could have complained. In the second half we conceded a goal after a minute, and I didn’t like anything about our performance. We were sitting back and just drifting through the game. We cannot afford that,” he said.
The Lazio coach added that his players had been fortunate to escape with the victory, insisting that they needed to maintain their intensity rather than become preoccupied with protecting a lead.
“We are not capable of managing a result properly; we always have to go at a thousand miles an hour. We must not be afraid. Today we were lucky because they deserved to equalise,” Gattuso said.
Monza coach Ivan Juric was equally frustrated by his side’s opening 45 minutes, but praised the response after the break, even with a numerical disadvantage.
“In the first half, saying we struggled is generous. I didn’t like anything about our attitude or what we had prepared. Technically, in the challenges, everything was missing. We failed because we lost our characteristics,” Juric said.
“There was a tremendous reaction in the second half. I saw my players, both those who stayed on the pitch and those who came on. It was a great shame because we found a phenomenal goalkeeper.”
Juric declined to criticise the officials over Lucchesi’s dismissal, saying he preferred the current approach to refereeing and believed players needed to avoid going to ground too readily.
Lazio’s fifth victory in six league matches keeps them alongside Inter on 16 points. Yet Gattuso insisted that the table should not distract his team from its daily work, while Monza were left to reflect on a damaging first half and missed chances to rescue a point.