Ivan Juric feels Hellas Verona ‘deserved more’ from their 2-0 home defeat to Napoli, but reminds everyone ‘this squad was made with players nobody wanted last year.’
This was a head-to-head for sixth place, but Arkadiusz Milik and Hirving Lozano headers proved decisive, as did the first half Valerio Verre miss.
“It’s a fine line between success and failure at this level, so we need to stay calm,” said the coach in his press conference.
Ivan Juric feels Hellas Verona ‘deserved more’ from their 2-0 home defeat to Napoli, but reminds everyone ‘this squad was made with players nobody wanted last year.’
This was a head-to-head for sixth place, but Arkadiusz Milik and Hirving Lozano headers proved decisive, as did the first half Valerio Verre miss.
“It’s a fine line between success and failure at this level, so we need to stay calm,” said the coach in his press conference.
“I am disappointed with tonight’s result, as we deserved more. It’s true our defending wasn’t strong on set plays, but we created many chances. We have no intention of giving up, we must keep playing this level of football and try to get players back from injury.
“Napoli play out well from the back, we know that, but they never really had a shot on target or created dangerous opportunities. It was a great performance from Verona against a top team with excellent players.”
Hellas have only themselves to blame, in a way, as Verre somehow managed to chest the ball over the bar from a yard out when it was 0-0.
“I asked first if it was offside. It was an incredible chance, the kind we do practice in training. He was unlucky, it just wasn’t our day and the result reflects that,” continued Juric.
“We also had a goal disallowed, so there are regrets.”
If Verona do fall away in the race for a European spot, Juric does not want anyone to act as if this is a failure for the newly-promoted side.
“This squad was made with players nobody wanted last year. Sofyan Amrabat was on loan. We got Amir Rrahmani for €2m. Marash Kumbulla was in the youth team. They improved and became excellent players. We’ve already sold the first two, the third is on the transfer market.
“Don’t forget that last summer, we were trying to sign the Sassuolo outcasts. That was our level.”