Walter Mazzarri admits he could not have asked for a better return to the Napoli bench after beating Atalanta 2-1. ‘We worked on the defensive line’ and gave Kvicha Kvaratskhelia precise instructions.
There were so many question marks around the Partenopei after the Scudetto victory was followed by an ill-fated spell under Rudi Garcia, who was fired last week for the return of Mazzarri a decade since his last experience at this club.
“A victory in this stadium, against this team, was not easy and will not be easy for anyone,” Mazzarri told DAZN.
Kvaratskhelia broke the deadlock, cancelled out by Ademola Lookman’s header, but substitute Eljif Elmas tapped in on the Victor Osimhen assist after a Marco Carnesecchi howler playing out from the back to seal the 2-1 result.
Both teams also had a goal disallowed by VAR for offside in the eventful match.
“The first half we were almost perfect, but we lost our intensity too much after the restart and Atalanta naturally gave it their all. I had hoped for a better second half performance than this.”
Garcia was sacked after eight wins, four draws and four defeats between Serie A and the Champions League.
“What I said in my first press conference was true, this is a team that dominated last season, played some of the best football in Europe and with players who were not accustomed to being in this position. So there was obviously going to be some sort of a dip after that.
“On top of that, all the opponents step up a level because they know that they are facing the Champions of Italy. It was always evident this was going to be a complicated campaign in those circumstances.
“I know a little something about tactics too and the players have done well to take on those lessons quickly. We worked on the defensive line, as I had seen in recent games that the defence sat too deep. We were tighter, more compact and I honestly didn’t expect to see these concepts put into practice so quickly against a super team like Atalanta.
“The only reason I didn’t use this system before was that my teams didn’t really have the players suited to it. The players really paid attention in training and wanted to learn as much as possible.”
Osimhen was making his comeback after six weeks out with a thigh strain and proved Mazzarri right, who said he was as ‘generous’ as Edinson Cavani, by providing the assist for Elmas.
“I didn’t need to be the Napoli coach to know that Osimhen is an excellent striker, I had watched him play! Fortunately he is back, I hope he gets his form back as soon as possible.”
Kvaratskhelia risked becoming too predictable by cutting inside from the left flank, so Mazzarri had some advice for the Georgia international.
“I told him that if he kept going wide, they would double up the marking on him. We only had a few minutes to discuss it, so we hopefully will have more time to talk over a few other concepts.”
There was also some bad news, as Mathias Olivera was stretchered off in tears after badly spraining his knee, leaving the squad with no left-backs considering Mario Rui is also out for another month.
“They told me it will not be an easy recovery, but we have to wait for the response from the tests.”
The tough tests keep coming, as Mazzarri’s next games are away to Real Madrid in the Champions League and against Serie A leaders Inter.
“Let’s just say it’s a friendly!”
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