Francesco Calzona confirms Victor Osimhen and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia ‘were struggling’ at Napoli, but the 6-1 win over Sassuolo should give them ‘hope’ of Champions League qualification.
The club’s third coach of the campaign had started out with a pair of 1-1 draws against Barcelona in the Champions League and Cagliari in Serie A.
It was easy to think negatively when Uros Racic gave Sassuolo the lead against the run of play in tonight’s rescheduled Week 21 fixture.
However, they turned it around with Amir Rrahmani, an Osimhen hat-trick and Kvaratskhelia brace.
“Victor is returning to his levels. Clearly, he wasn’t in great shape after the Africa Cup of Nations, he was away for over a month and is slowly rediscovering his form.
“Kvara also struggled, but today showed just what he can do,” Calzona told DAZN.
“I sensed positivity from the first training session, the lads aways gave me their all. I was surprised to see how eager they were to work, to stay together, and that gave me hope.”
Calzona is no stranger to the Napoli squad from his time as an assistant manager to both Maurizio Sarri and Luciano Spalletti, while he currently holds the role of Slovakia coach.
“It has been a difficult season for these players and it is not easy for them to shake off those negative effects. We’ve been working together for a week now, I saw the intensity rise, a different quality of training. It is thanks to the lads, as they really want to improve the current situation.”
This could prove to be a turning point, especially as they have old rivals Juventus coming up on Sunday evening at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
The result put them level with Lazio and there are a run of head-to-head clashes coming up.
“We need to take it one game at a time. Napoli are an important club, we must get as many points as possible, hold on to that hope and then see where we are at the end of the season.”
Both Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen had huge difficulties under Rudi Garcia and Walter Mazzarri, so how has Calzona revitalised them, even when substituting them?
“They were struggling due to various reasons, but they never caused controversy, they just got their heads down and worked. I am not some madman who would do without players of this quality, but if they are losing intensity, then I have to introduce fresh legs, especially as those who came on have given me a strong response so far.”
Calzona worked under Spalletti in the year before the Scudetto, but insists he is not trying to copy his mentor.
“What Spalletti did with this team cannot be equalled. I just try to propose a simple style of football, aiming to spend more time in the opposition half. The lads have made giant leaps forward, we are starting to find some organisation, so we must continue along this path and improve everything we did today.
“We want to play good football and make the fans happy, as so many of them travelled to see us today and I told the players they really are an extra weapon for us.”
President Aurelio De Laurentiis commented on X, formerly known as Twitter, straight after the match.
“Congratulations to the team for this wonderful reawakening!”
#Napoli, Calzona: "Osi e Kvara? Non sono un pazzo, non me ne privo" https://t.co/B1REO9mAZU
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) February 28, 2024