Gennaro Gattuso admits Napoli made numerous “avoidable mistakes” in the 3-1 home defeat to Inter. “There is no coverage from midfield.”
Since taking over from Carlo Ancelotti in December, Gattuso has overseen two Serie A home defeats and a stoppage-time win at Sassuolo.
The Partenopei are now joint eighth in the table with Torino on 24 points, already 10 adrift of the Champions League places.
Gennaro Gattuso admits Napoli made numerous “avoidable mistakes” in the 3-1 home defeat to Inter. “There is no coverage from midfield.”
Since taking over from Carlo Ancelotti in December, Gattuso has overseen two Serie A home defeats and a stoppage-time win at Sassuolo.
The Partenopei are now joint eighth in the table with Torino on 24 points, already 10 adrift of the Champions League places.
“I think it was our best performance since I arrived here. It’s not a coincidence that this team hasn’t won at the San Paolo since October, as we continue to make cheap errors, but we have to keep working and regain our confidence,” the coach told Sky Sport Italia.
With Kalidou Koulibaly and Nikola Maksimovic injured, why did he start Giovanni Di Lorenzo at centre-back?
“Sebastiano Luperto had a fitness issue, did not train much, so we didn’t want to take many risks. Apart from the slip on the first goal, Di Lorenzo had a good game, he is very intelligent and learns quickly.”
Gattuso was asked what Napoli need to do better, Inter made the most of three big errors on all the goals.
“We have to start moves better from the back and not make mistakes, as once again we allowed ourselves to get caught out through the middle four or five times and that is so avoidable.
“We kept leaving big gaps in the centre and it’s something I need to figure out. Fabian Ruiz is a midfielder with immense quality, but we know he struggles to cover the spaces. Zielinski is more dynamic, so this is the situation.
“There is no coverage from the midfield for the defence, so one pass can split us wide open. We made changes and kept Fabian Ruiz stuck there in the deep role and things went better.”
Carlo Ancelotti had said Napoli were struggling psychologically with being so far down the table.
“The fact remains, we practically scored the three goals ourselves. It’s not easy to play at the San Paolo right now, the team is unaccustomed to being in this situation after several years of challenging for first or second place.
“I still feel we ought to do more in sniffing out danger. It’s the third goal we conceded with a slip, as there were two against Parma, so maybe we need to check their studs too…”