"He's actually out-thought some of the top teams in Europe. They were absolutely brilliant against Leverkusen and they just had this plan where they simply stopped the opposition playing. But they were also pacey and they tackled. They fully deserved it," says "Lawro" who won't be surprised to see Gasperini receiving all sorts of different offers now. What didn't surprise the former long-time BBC pundit either was Roberto De Zerbi leaving Brighton.
"I know the owner Tony Bloom because I played at Brighton and his granddad was vice chairman at the time. You don't mess with Tony Bloom. De Zerbi made that statement saying he doesn't think the board wants to go far, don't want to spend more money, don't want to do this and that.
"I think Tony Bloom looked at that and thought; 'hold on a minute. You know, we appointed you. We've looked after you. You've been on great money'. If the guy who owns the football club suddenly realises that this fellow actually doesn't want to be here, then you've got to deal with it," states Lawrenson, who is happy go get behind Fabio Capello's statement about De Zerbi being overhyped.
"He's done a really, really good job, but I think he is overhyped," says Lawrenson who knows just where to look for a replacement.
"I think they should bring back Graham Potter. He started all off this, he made the bed, for want of a better expression."
While the season finished slightly mediocre for Brighton, where Lawrenson spent four years as a player, it finished on a high for the club he managed, when he retired as a player.
"I'm delighted for Oxford United. The new manager (Des Buckingham) has done an absolutely fantastic job. Almost a Gasparini, if you watch them play. In the second game in the playoffs at Peterborough, they got absolutely battered, it could have been four or five. But they hung on and then at Wembley, they won convincingly."
Oxford United had a brief stint in the old First Division during a time where talents like Ray Houghton, John Aldridge and Dean Saunders entertained the supporters. Watching Ipswich hammering their way straight through the Championship after gaining promotion form League One will perhaps have some Oxford supporters dreaming, but "Lawro" doesn't see it happening.
"I don't think they will ever get back to that stage, to be honest with you. Everybody is chasing the same players, and just to get to the Championship is great. Ipswich is simply a fairytale."
Speaking of fairytale; one of those ended when Jrgen Klopp said his final goodbyes at Liverpool in a surprisingly unemotional celebration in front of the Anfield faithful.
"Well, they had all sorts of functions during the week, so he probably cried out all his tears. I watched it and thought it was typical Klopp, like the way he started singing about Arne Slot. I met him loads of times and he's a very, very clever man. He's just a proper person.
"I've noticed one or two saying sometimes he can be a bit nasty when he's with the press and all that. He's just honest. When something's black, it's black, it's not blue. One of the best things he said was when we played at Old Trafford and some idiots from Manchester were shouting about Hillsborough. He got asked the question straight after the game, which is difficult because the result was disappointing, but the interviewer said; 'what would you do?' And he went; 'educate your children'. It's brilliant, isn't it? Absolutely brilliant."
It is not just Klopp that is leaving Liverpool FC but a lot of backroom staff as well and the number of people leaving has Lawrenson slightly concerned.
"When the new manager starts, he'll be looking through all the videos and all those kinds of things, but he's got no one to reference to. He's not got no one who's been there in terms of the backroom staff who can just to steer him in the right direction. He's starting from nil and that's going to be really, really difficult job."
- Mark Lawrenson was talking to Tribalfootball on behalf of Best Online Poker Sites