Walter Mazzarri hints at a potential tactical change to get the best out of Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Jesper Lindstrom after Napoli’s comeback victory over Verona.
The Partenopei had been trailing at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona to a looping Diego Coppola header and it felt as if Lorenzo Montipò was saving everything coming his way.
However, substitute Cyril Ngonge equalised, as his first goal in the Napoli jersey was against the club he left only last month, then Kvaratskhelia curled a stunner into the far top corner for the 2-1 comeback victory.
“When you struggle, it is even more enjoyable to win at the end! No, in reality, it would’ve been better to take an early lead and get it done without suffering,” Mazzarri told DAZN.
“It is not easy to have dominated possession, taken the initiative and created chances to find themselves behind. Other teams might’ve struggled at that moment, but we believed and kept fighting for the victory. That was what I wanted to bring to this team, the belief to the end we can do it, even when a game feels cursed.”
Kvaratskhelia had early penalty appeals for a Juan Cabal challenge waved away, though DAZN refereeing expert Luca Marelli judged it to be a foul.
“At that moment we were pinning Verona back and created numerous chances to take the lead. If we had been awarded that penalty, which was very clear at least for the VAR, then we could’ve had a more entertaining performance with more goals.
“The fitness levels are growing too. When Kvara scored the goal, you saw him light up. He can sometimes give the impression of feeling tired, but when the equaliser went in, you could see us find a second wind.
“Naturally, the changes from the bench revitalised the team too and we got the win that we deserved.”
Kvaratskhelia scored a truly stunning winner with the right-foot curler into the far top corner, having looked frustrated lately at the lack of goals.
“He already proved last season that he is a champion. In Italy, we are good at studying players and finding ways to limit them, but you can still see he has immense quality.
“We moved him to more of a central role, which is where he plays at international level, and I think we’ll have to do that again in future because otherwise the opponents create a cage around him.”
Piotr Zielinski was left out due to injury, but he was cut from the Champions League squad, seemingly because he refused a new contract and is heading towards Inter next season.
“It is not a problem, as long as players are under contract, they need to honour the shirt. Even if they have already signed for someone else, as long as they work hard in training and have the right attitude, it is not an issue.
“Clearly, we had to make choices in the Champions League and it is important to focus on the future of Napoli too.”
Jesper Lindstrom came off the bench and really shook things up, his assist creating the Ngonge goal, but he remains something of a mystery at Napoli.
“He has arrived from a foreign league, his role is not all that clear, so he needed time to adjust. When I moved him wide and Kvara central, that is where he seemed to flourish,” continued Mazzarri.
“The trouble is that if he does well in that role, then he’ll have trouble pushing Kvara out of the way. We might change things tactically, we will see.”
Mario Rui was booked and will therefore be suspended for next week’s Serie A showdown with third-placed Milan.
With Mathias Olivera still injured, that could potentially see a return to the three-man defence, having today switched back to 4-3-3.
“There are 16 rounds left, they are all finals for us, we must try to do our best one game at a time and then see where we are.”
#SerieA | #Napoli, #Mazzarri: "Quando si fa fatica c'è più gusto alla fine. #Zielinski? Se sta bene non ci sono problemi"https://t.co/3huwzmqmJO
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) February 4, 2024