Napoli assistant manager Marco Domenichini reveals Luciano Spalletti’s first reaction to the 2-1 win against Milan was to ‘reproach the players for something they hadn’t done.’
The Partenopei continued their remarkable start to the season, sitting pretty at the top of both the Serie A table – alongside Atalanta – and their Champions League group.
Matteo Politano converted a penalty earned by Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, while Giovanni Simeone’s glancing header on the Mario Rui cross sealed it after a temporary Olivier Giroud equaliser.
Spalletti was suspended and therefore in the stands of San Siro, so Domenichini stood in both on the touchline and the press room.
“It was without doubt a difficult match against a very good Milan,” the assistant manager told DAZN.
“We got the first 20 minutes wrong and struggled to move the ball around, then managed to find more spaces. It was again a struggle in the second half when we made mistakes, but the team showed character, the desire to win and we are very happy.”
What was the first thing Spalletti told the players when communicating with them after the final whistle?
“He was annoyed with a few players who didn’t do what they should’ve done. He was happy yes, but also reproached some players for things they hadn’t done.”
Giacomo Raspadori started this evening in place of injured Victor Osimhen, whereas Simeone was picked in the Champions League midweek against Glasgow Rangers.
“Raspadori is a striker who works more with the rest of the team to spread the ball, whereas Simeone attacks the space and presses defenders. The coach chose to play with Raspadori, as he wanted to hold the ball better in the first half, even if we didn’t really manage that.
“These are both players who can prove decisive even when coming off the bench.”
Alessio Zerbin was a surprise substitute off the bench rather than Eljif Elmas or other more experienced figures.
“Zerbin has done well recently and can also defend on the flank, so we needed someone with more coverage for Giovanni Di Lorenzo. We preferred to choose Zerbin, taking nothing away from the other players.”
Are there any better squads than Napoli in Serie A at the moment?
“There must be. We just do our best every weekend and will slowly see what happens. We’re a young team with many new players and there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Napoli have lost veterans like Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne, so have they found new leaders?
“Frank Anguissa has found something extra to motivate the others, but overall I think it’s a general growth of the whole group.”
I thought Anguissa could have done better either in attack, where he watched two shots he could have tapped in on the rebound. Or better on defense when Napoli were struggling. You can’t be a spectator against a team like Milan. And Simeone should be starting.
That was a game Milan had no business losing as they were clearly better than the the very good Napoli side. A beautiful match to watch .
Milan don’t deserve to lose the match.. They were really unlucky in many occasions.. But this is football.
Great night it was.