Maurizio Sarri was “disappointed by the result, but not the performance” after Napoli were held 1-1 at home by Palermo.
Ilija Nestorovski stunned the Stadio San Paolo crowd with a header after just six minutes and Dries Mertens only got the equaliser thanks to a Josip Posavec howler.
“We had 11 or 12 scoring opportunities. The last one was most visible, as it was in stoppages, but we created chances throughout the game, non-stop,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
Maurizio Sarri was “disappointed by the result, but not the performance” after Napoli were held 1-1 at home by Palermo.
Ilija Nestorovski stunned the Stadio San Paolo crowd with a header after just six minutes and Dries Mertens only got the equaliser thanks to a Josip Posavec howler.
“We had 11 or 12 scoring opportunities. The last one was most visible, as it was in stoppages, but we created chances throughout the game, non-stop,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“Knowing their Coach, I expected a game of substance and that’s what we saw from Diego Lopez’s team. Palermo had a decent away record anyway and they defended very well.
“There are regrets we didn’t finish the chances that we created, so many chances, but we have no regrets over the performance in general.
“I checked the stats, Palermo entered our penalty area just seven times in the entire match. We pinned them back constantly. Unfortunately, we do tend to concede goals in these games, so it cannot be purely a coincidence, but we allowed them very little and I think in that sense it’s an improvement.
“It’s a young team, we lack a certain maturity and experience. If we had that too, it would be a side dangerous for everyone in Europe as well as Italy.”
Leonardo Pavoletti came off the bench, but why weren’t there more crosses for the ex-Genoa centre-forward?
“I don’t have a joystick, so I can’t control everything… This is a side that had one type of striker for two years for whom crosses into the box were counter-productive. It’ll take a little time to adjust, but right now he’s not in great shape after the injury either.
“We did create numerous scoring opportunities, more than when we won games by four or five goals, but sometimes you get nights like this. With the attitude of the opposition, it became inevitably difficult.
“There is a bitter taste in the mouth because of the result, but not for the performance.”