Gian Piero Gasperini explained his tactical masterstrokes against Napoli in a “thoroughly deserved” Genoa draw.
Gian Piero Gasperini explained his tactical masterstrokes against Napoli in a “thoroughly deserved” Genoa draw.
Emanuele Calaiò scored for the 1-1 result at the San Paolo, though Alberto Gilardino was surprisingly substituted at the break for Ioannis Fetfatzidis.
“I was also very satisfied with the first half. Of course Napoli started strong, but we had several dangerous counter-attacks with Moussa Konate. We ran a few more risks after the break and I think the draw was thoroughly deserved,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“I wanted to introduce Fet, as he is fast, while I wanted to put pressure on the Napoli players and Konate is more dynamic in that sense. I would’ve happily kept Gilardino on, but in this match situation we needed pace. It worked!
“With this system you either are very efficient and score lots of goals or you leave huge gaps and get thrashed. It’s something we needn’t necessarily use from the start in games, but we have done it in the second half several times this season. I think it’s useful to have these options during a match situation.”
Calaiò is on loan from Napoli, having stayed with them through Serie C1 and B, and aimed an apologetic wave to the crowd when he scored the equaliser.
“Calaiò cared so much about being here in this stadium, so it wasn’t easy for him. Konate only just turned 20 and has already made a lot of progress from a few months ago. He’s growing from game to game and we have an excellent group of young players who are being helped by the experienced figures.
“We don’t tend to have great ballistics specialists, so we tend to have to build our moves and get close to the goal in order to score. It might seem as if we don’t create many chances, but in reality we just take longer to get there.”