Maurizio Sarri concedes Napoli “were struggling to re-organise” after Faouzi Ghoulam’s injury in the 4-2 defeat to Manchester City.
The Partenopei had gone in front with Lorenzo Insigne after dominating the first 25 minutes, but Ghoulam’s knee injury – a suspected ACL tear – changed the game.
Maurizio Sarri concedes Napoli “were struggling to re-organise” after Faouzi Ghoulam’s injury in the 4-2 defeat to Manchester City.
The Partenopei had gone in front with Lorenzo Insigne after dominating the first 25 minutes, but Ghoulam’s knee injury – a suspected ACL tear – changed the game.
City turned it around with two headers from Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones, but when Jorginho equalised again through a penalty, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling finished them off on the counter.
“We ran into a great team and caused them huge problems. We were struggling to re-organise after losing Ghoulam and conceded the goal during that period,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.
“I am sad that we conceded on those counter-attacks, as we had the ball, but causing City this many problems is something to be proud of.”
The goals Napoli conceded from set plays looked very similar to the ones Real Madrid scored here last season.
“We have a squad that is technically-gifted and keeps the ball well, but consequently we don’t have much height or strength on set plays. That’s something we will try to work on, but must also have to just deal with.
“In my view, we lost the inertia and momentum with Ghoulam, as it took a while to re-organise and it becomes difficult to win back possession when they press you that high up the field.
“The game certainly became tougher for us, just as it would’ve been tougher for them if we had taken the 3-2 lead with Callejon. It is also my responsibility that we were tired late on, as I tried to go all the way.”
With Ghoulam off, Sarri introduced 34-year-old Christian Maggio and moved Elseid Hysaj over to the left, as Mario Rui wasn’t even on the bench.
“In the Champions League you have a limited bench, so it’s difficult to have both a right and left-back. In these situations, we tend to bring only the right-back, as Elseid Hysaj has been known to play on the left. We were hoping that eventuality would only be for a few minutes, not an hour.”
There are reports the Algeria international has suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage.
“It’s not easy to replace Ghoulam, as right now he is one of the best left-backs in Europe, but we have the options.”
Their chances of qualification are now very slim, as Manchester City have already qualified, while Shakhtar Donetsk have nine points and Napoli only three.