Gennaro Gattuso felt Napoli did not deserve to lose 2-1 to Parma as Dejan Kulusevski ‘fell by himself’ and Alex Meret ‘didn’t have to make a save’.

Napoli have now won just one of their last four games, falling behind Milan to seventh place in Serie A, and Gattuso admitted his side had a problem dealing with pressure in their own half.

“The first half needs watching back, we were below-par,” he told DAZN.

Gennaro Gattuso felt Napoli did not deserve to lose 2-1 to Parma as Dejan Kulusevski ‘fell by himself’ and Alex Meret ‘didn’t have to make a save’.

Napoli have now won just one of their last four games, falling behind Milan to seventh place in Serie A, and Gattuso admitted his side had a problem dealing with pressure in their own half.

“The first half needs watching back, we were below-par,” he told DAZN.

“We did better in the second half. The second penalty needs watching back too.

“We’ve been struggling lately, although tonight we had the excuse that we didn’t have a proper striker on the pitch and whoever played there sacrificed themselves.

“We keep the ball, but our opponents cause us problems whenever they come into our half.”

Despite that, the former Milan boss was disappointed with the manner of his side’s defeat and particularly referee Antonio Giua for awarding Kulusevski a penalty.

“You saw them. A referee can make a mistake, he saw them the way he did. Of course, we’re not lucky with this referee. He did the same thing at Lecce.

“Kulusevski was already on the ground when he was touched. He fell by himself. Koulibaly touched him later.

“That side, of course we could’ve done better. To me it wasn’t a penalty, but I don’t want to any controversy.

“The first was more of a penalty than the second one, but we didn’t lose on penalties. I don't remember Parma having any attempts on goal.

“Games have been going like this lately. We’re struggling to take our chances and our opponents score as soon as they pass the halfway line.

“Meret didn’t have to make a save. We need to improve in this regard. The team are working well in a conceptual sense and are compact.

“However, when you’re in your opponents’ half too much, you struggle with balls through the middle.”

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