Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri underlined the task ahead of his side as they look to close the gap to the Champions League spots, starting with their clash against Genoa.
The Partenopei again failed to impress in Serie A last weekend, falling to Milan in a miserable 1-0 loss at San Siro on Sunday. The result leaves the defending champions ninth in the league table, seven points behind fourth place Atalanta.
Napoli now have the chance to return to winning ways against Alberto Gilardino’s Genoa, who sit six points behind in the table. The Ligurian outfit have only won two of their last five games, struggling to find consistency despite positive signs.
Speaking to gathered reporters in a press conference via TMW, Mazzarri first discussed Napoli’s position at this point in the season and the Victor Osimhen situation.
“I’ve never drawn up league tables, we just think about winning as many games as possible, there are 17 important matches between now and the end, 15 league and two for now in the Champions League.
“Now we’ll see who’s well, who’s returning from injuries, but more or less we all have available, and we are more confident of achieving victories.
“We will try to get as high as possible, seven points are a lot, relatively a lot based on what we’ll do. The others who precede us must come to us, tomorrow there will be 50,000 fans, we have an exceptional fanbase and we will do what we haven’t been capable of up to now.
“I spoke with Osimhen on the phone, how he was, there’s continuous contact, now I’ll talk to him and we’ll see if he’ll be available to come on the bench. We’ll see how he is after those trips, he’ll arrive for afternoon training.”
The Italian coach touched on his plans for the formation and system for the remainder of the season.
“The latest Coverciano theories of innovators say that often, in order not to give advantages to opponents, we should change formations week to week. I worked for three continuous weeks and managed to teach my boys three formations, the 3-4-3, 4-3-3 and 3-5-2.
“The team has learnt three formations, and it’s an advantage to be able to change multiple formations even during the match. I won’t tell you how we’ll start tomorrow, but the boys are able to play in multiple ways.
“Against Milan, apart from the huge mistake on Theo Hernandez’s goal, we played a great match, we didn’t deserve to lose. Then there’s a discussion to be made about Kvara, who had more difficulty breaking free. I changed him a bit the position and in my opinion he did well.”
He was asked how Napoli can recover the much-needed seven points.
“By winning matches, hoping that they don’t win too. It seems to me that Bologna have to come here, Atalanta have to come here, at full strength with Elmas and Olivera we won there, it’s possible to win again.
“It’s possible achieve a sensational result away from home when we’re at full strength, when we’re better in the offensive phase.
“With 15 three-point games up for grabs, there are 45 points on the table, it’s possible to recover them, otherwise I’ll say we didn’t succeed, but we’ll do everything we can to try with serenity without making promises. Trying doesn’t mean succeeding.”
Mazzarri was also asked why Victor Osimhen was in doubt for the match, considering that he played seven matches at the Africa Cup of Nations without issue.
“Even the guys, as I know them, are suffering from the situation. They too must understand that all matches are finals. If you also think about the players I had in Bergamo, then I no longer had Elmas and Olivera… we had started well, then we suffered.
“The only one that was really wrong, my fault because I was disqualified, was against Torino. We played the others, but there were incidents. If Osimhen’s not well… then there are also the teammates who trained.
“There are the trips, me too, like after Madrid or something… after trips it’s not like we’re in shape. I’ll see him later and talk to him. Osimhen is a champion, but I have to respect those who train every day, sleep well, etc.”
Mazzarri commented on if this is the decisive moment for Napoli’s comeback.
“I’m focused on the match, I look at the Genoa squad, they have Malinovskyi, Messias, they have important players, two forwards, one in better shape than the other, the matches are all difficult and delicate.
“We’ll think one game at a time. Beyond Monza, where we created more than ever, with the other lower ranked teams we made the game ours.
“I come to make an appeal to the fans, always exceptional with me, to give us a hand tomorrow because it will be another complicated and difficult match. We have a schedule on paper that seems within reach, this is the truth.”
Finally, Mazzarri spoke about the criticism received after the loss to Milan.
“I’ve been coaching for 23 years, I’ve been through all kinds of things, what do you want them to do to me?
“I understand that there are people who are a bit repressed in football, who can’t get back into it, something gets to me, I don’t even read the newspapers anymore because I’ve learned that they only make you tense while there are criticisms that I take into consideration.
“But I understand when criticism is calm, when there are other things, I laugh. I’m focused on understanding if the guys can do better. I only ever think about doing my best in view of the next match. I don’t care about anything else.”