Maurizio Sarri felt Napoli “put in a decent performance and deserved more, but were punished on the counter-attack” by Roma.
Edin Dzeko’s brace and Mohamed Salah secured the 3-1 result at the Stadio San Paolo, their first home defeat in Serie A since May 2015.
“After a good first half, we made a mistake and found ourselves chasing the game,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.
Maurizio Sarri felt Napoli “put in a decent performance and deserved more, but were punished on the counter-attack” by Roma.
Edin Dzeko’s brace and Mohamed Salah secured the 3-1 result at the Stadio San Paolo, their first home defeat in Serie A since May 2015.
“After a good first half, we made a mistake and found ourselves chasing the game,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.
“Roma are so dangerous when they have space to run into. We got back into it, but just as we looked likely to equalise, we were punished on the counter-attack.
“I saw Napoli put in a decent performance. We could’ve done better and incidents went against us, but we have to accept them, work hard and resolve these problems. The match was very balanced, in fact perhaps we deserved more before the first goal.
“This is a squad that can certainly do better. In the first half we were slow to follow their diagonal runs. The team was alive and kicking, I thought we could come back to win.”
Manolo Gabbiadini failed to step into the shoes of injured Arkadiusz Milik and was jeered when substituted by Dries Mertens.
“I replaced Gabbiadini because it was a moment of the game where I needed to change the tide, so required other characteristics. We were creating a great deal and tried something a bit different, seeing as we were trailing.
“I hope he won’t be affected by this. It was a tactical change, not punishment for his performance. The lad must take the situation for what it is.
“Mertens as a False 9 was an attempt to make the opposition defence move and draw their centre-backs out. Dries does these things well, it’s a role he can do, but naturally we can’t expect him to be a centre-forward in the traditional sense.
“I got the feeling we were too stretched out and five or six metres too short to close down their passes. It’s not an enormous issue, but those five or six metres made a big difference. Our back like lost the ball too cheaply too.
“It was very humid today and it felt like we were lacking a bit of extra zing in our step. We made mistakes, but in building the play to the final third, I thought we had no problems there.”