Napoli coach Rudi Garcia reflected on the 2-2 draw with Milan, the threats Salernitana pose and the recovery of star striker Victor Osimhen.
Pressure has quickly started to mount on the French coach after the Partenopei’s slow start to the season and Antonio Conte was briefly considered a possible replacement before turning down the approach.
Napoli currently sit fifth in the Serie A table after 10 games, seven points behind league leaders Inter. They’ve done better in the Champions League and sit second in their group behind Real Madrid, having picked up wins over Braga and Union Berlin.
Speaking in a press conference via TMW, Garcia first discussed Napoli’s 2-2 draw with Milan and the lessons taken from the match.
“Don’t throw away everything about the first half, we conceded two goals from Milan’s first two actions, we didn’t do badly, we should have done better on the two goals, but we also had the lead to make it 1-1, but that’s over now and we’re focused on tomorrow.
“Obviously when a team comes back from 0-2 to almost 3-2 at the last minute, the second half was better in terms of results. It’s always better to end on a positive note.”
He was asked if the 4-2-3-1 formation could bear fruit for Napoli and why there’s such a difference between their performances in the first half and second.
“We have shown not only against Milan that this formation can be useful, we know how to use it, it could be so tomorrow too. We need to concede fewer goals, especially because apart from one game we have always scored.
“We’ll focus a little more on the defensive phase, which can also be about re-aggression, about defending forward, but the guys know that we have to work with 11 players and that way we will be more solid.”
The French coach did not think that it was an issue of defensive focus.
“In my opinion, this isn’t the case. If you look at the first half, we gave away a lot of balls to our opponents. Even players who usually don’t do so.
“When you lose too many balls, you can’t attack anymore, and you expose yourself more. The key is to play better with ball without giving anything away to the opponents.”
Garcia discussed Osimhen’s recovery programme following his recent injury.
“He made an agreement with the club, I spoke to him through messages, the doctors assure me that he is following the program, everything is fine, and he will be with us next week.
“It’s not that I don’t care, but whether it’s Osimhen or Russo, injured together, cannot play and therefore I focus on who can play.”
He was asked if Napoli had already given up on the league title considering the seven-point gap with Inter.
“I was expecting a mean question from you! Your questions are always offensive. Maybe I misunderstood.
“We’re a quarter of the way through the season, with three quarters left to get back to whoever is up front.”
The Napoli coach spoke about new signing Jesper Lindstrom, who has struggled for consistent playing time since his arrival.
“He’s had some space, when a player is a winger in attack, he has to be decisive with goals and assists and for now taking away the place from Kvicha and Matteo (Politano, ed.), it’s a bit complicated for the others, but they can’t all play matches for 90 minutes and when he comes into their place, even with little time, he must demonstrate that he is capable of finishing.
“This applies to all players. There is the offensive part, in which to be decisive, but also the defensive hand to help the team and Lindstrom is improving a lot on this.”
He was asked if he had an explanation for why Napoli perform better away from home.
“None.”
Garcia was then posed if this was because the squad go into a retreat for away games but not home matches.
“It has nothing to do with it, during COVID there were no more retreats and there were still those who won the Scudetto and those who came second, I went to the semi-final of the Champions League without making retreats. I have responsible and professional players.”
He spoke about the decision to take off three players at half time during the draw with Milan.
“A substitution in the 45th minute is not a punishment, it’s to improve the team and they know it, there are those who have already come off many times at half-time and then started the next one.
“I could have made other choices, but when you’re losing 0-2 and you change two defenders it seems unusual… but the match showed that they were the right choices with the change of formation.”
The French coach looked ahead to the Campania derby with Salernitana.
“Thank you for the questions, we’re playing against Salernitana, we talked about Milan, but we can’t play them again. Tomorrow I’ll meet De Sanctis again, who I appreciate very much, he was one of the pillars of my dressing room at Roma.
“I’ve always known that he will be a great manager, during for the 90 minutes we will be opponents, but it will be a great pleasure to see him again. I will meet again with some players that we know in France, Bradaric, Dia, Coulibaly, some of them we know from there.
“I didn’t know that 50km away I wouldn’t have found respect, a different climate. Given the moment we live in the world, rivalry may be ok, but it’s not war, we have enough wars. I hope there is support for the teams, but no hatred which leads anywhere. Only this.”
He spoke about life in Naples and if he felt Neapolitan.
“I already said when there was a bit of a storm and we talked about it here, in the city I find a lot of people who encourage me, huge fans of their team, I just try to have a normal life even if it’s not normal for us in any city.
“It’s complicated but it was the anniversary of the great Diego and since I had never been there, I went, and it was very beautiful. I saw, as you call them, the urchins who play in the street, the beauty of football is this, the children who will be in our place in the future.”
Garcia touched on the dangers Salernitana pose.
“It won’t be an easy match, it’s a derby first of all, they need points, but we only have one positive result to achieve, the victory there, and we have to field the best version of Napoli, we know what to do. We must manage some parameters of Salernitana, and we are working on this.”
He spoke about his first few months with Napoli and if he’s satisfied with the progress.
“We can improve in everything, but we are strong, let’s not forget that, and on any pitch we must have ambition, confidence, personality, even courage at times because we have to fight, you don’t win matches if you don’t fight and only play with the ball and not without the ball.
“One thing to improve is to start games better, a good start can give you the advantage.”
Finally, Garcia discussed his goalkeeping options and which player is the starter.
“Meret is the number one, Gollini number two, then he was injured, he missed a few weeks of training, but since I arrived, I’m happy that our managers managed to make sure we have him among us.
“We have three strong goalkeepers with Contini training well, little Idasiak is still young. Pierluigi deserves to play some matches, let’s see if there is an opportunity, but Alex has returned to a high level and now we haven’t played after three days.”