Maurizio Sarri admits Fiorentina are “problematic” for his Napoli, due to their possession-based style.
The Partenopei are known for their attractive style of play, but tomorrow they face another side who like to keep the ball. Click here for a match preview.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Sarri said in his pre-match Press conference.
Maurizio Sarri admits Fiorentina are “problematic” for his Napoli, due to their possession-based style.
The Partenopei are known for their attractive style of play, but tomorrow they face another side who like to keep the ball. Click here for a match preview.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Sarri said in his pre-match Press conference.
“Our average possession is about 62-63 per cent, against them it’s about 50-52. They keep the ball away from us for long periods and it unsettles us because we’re not used to it.
“The games against them have always been hard, problematic, with the result in the balance.
“They have great technical quality, [Federico] Bernardeschi is among the best young Italias, [Riccardo] Saponara and [Josip] Ilicic are great technically, as is [Nikola] Kalinic; they’re organised and they have enormous quality.
“It’s no coincidence that they were among the top teams for a long time last year. This year they could have done more, but I don’t know the reasons why they haven’t.”
Many opponents and pundits have said that Napoli play the best football in Europe…
“We play nice football, but the objective is to win matches, we have to get results. We’re succeeding in being consistent and we believe in our philosophy.
“Here in Italy people think that to win you have to play badly but it’s not true, all the winners in history have had our philosophy.
“Our philosophy has to be to make the most of our potential, then if that isn’t enough for first place, it’ll take patience.”
The Coach was then asked if he felt his side could overhaul Juventus, given the difference in revenues between the clubs.
“It’s clear that whoever has the most money buys the most luxurious car,” Sarri said.
“Thankfully it’s not maths, sometimes you get stories which upset this dynamic, but they’re stories that remind you of why it’s so rare.
“It’s something that’s banal, if you have a revenue of €1bn then you buy players for €200m, with a revenue of €200m you buy a player worth €30m.
“The €200m player is superior to the €30m one. Not always, but that’s how it is.
“Can we win the Scudetto? That should concern us, not the Press, you have to tell things like they are but it almost never happens.
“There’s no balance and you don’t tell things as they are, but maybe that’s just to sell newspapers.
“The exceptions get remembered, we talk about Leicester because it never happens, so you should talk about it every day and don’t pass it off as my own ideas.
“For us the dream is there, we work to improve, but it remains ours.”