Rudi Garcia admits it was ‘not the best’ Napoli performance, but his change to midfield helped set the scene to beat Union Berlin in the Champions League. ‘It is never easy to take a player off at the break.’
The Partenopei seemed to take a step backwards after the weekend’s Serie A victory over Verona, struggling to create many chances in Berlin and relying heavily on Kvicha Kvaratskhelia’s individual runs.
That is what proved decisive, as the Georgia international dribbled past Christopher Trimmel to pull back from the by-line for Giacomo Raspadori to fire in from six yards.
“We barely suffered at all, but at the same time were not that dangerous when attacking either. We knew this game was not won before we started, despite what some might have suggested. When a team is on a run of bad results, they are statistically more likely to break that run than continue it,” Garcia told Sky Sport Italia.
“There were too many mistakes in the first half and we misplaced some passes, which is bad because Union Berlin live on the errors of others to go on the counter-attack. It was important to have patience and not open up too much, though in the second half we moved the ball around better.
“It was a fine goal with Kvara’s assist and the Raspa movement I really liked to score at the near post.”
Garcia wanted to show consistency from the win over Verona, keeping Raspadori upfront rather than Giovanni Simeone.
“We had the right ingredients, including the determination to win the duels. There were two moments that stood out for me, as in the build-up to the goal Amir Rrahmani won back the ball with a great tackle and Mario Rui confirmed he can really play the ball.”
The key change at half-time was replacing Jens Cajuste with Eljif Elmas to bring more creativity to the midfield that is sorely missing Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa.
“It is never easy to take a player off at the break, but it is our job to make these decisions when we think they are the best things for the team. It was strange, because Cajuste was almost the best player in Verona, then today he was not sharp and lost the ball too many times. We will evaluate what happened there, it doesn’t mean he won’t start on Sunday against Milan, as it was just one game.
“Leo Ostigard also helped us out playing in midfield. Without Zambo Anguissa, we are missing a physical player in that midfield role. I saw Natan make a tackle in front of the opposition bench with an extraordinary determination, that is the attitude I want to see from all my players, whether they start or come on.”
Union Berlin had the ball in the net during the first half, but it was disallowed because the Napoli offside trap worked perfectly.
“It is very important that all the defenders stick together and keep an eye on the line. Amir took a step forward to get him offside and the work we did during the break for international duty really helped with Natan. He is intelligent and understood quickly what we want from him, he is gaining confidence now too.”
This result puts Napoli three points clear in second place ahead of SC Braga, as Real Madrid won 2-1 in Portugal this evening to retain their 100 per cent record.
President Aurelio De Laurentiis was in the stands of the Olympiastadion and it was far from a scintillating performance, but the patron continues to support his coach.
“It was certainly not our best game, we gave the ball away too many times, but knowing they had these three huge defenders and we could not put crosses in, we had to play the ball to feet, keep it short and these are all positives. We know that we must keep playing our football to the final minute.”