Maurizio Sarri said Napoli have to break through “a mental block” against Sampdoria after an opening defeat.

It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.

“I don’t think the problems are physical, as you can’t run out of gas after 20 minutes,” said the Coach after their 2-1 loss to Sassuolo.

Maurizio Sarri said Napoli have to break through “a mental block” against Sampdoria after an opening defeat.

It kicks off at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), click here for a match preview.

“I don’t think the problems are physical, as you can’t run out of gas after 20 minutes,” said the Coach after their 2-1 loss to Sassuolo.

“Napoli must grow in terms of character and find the determination to kill off games. It’s a mental block. This team must drag the fans along with it and get them coming to the stadium.

“Eder and Luis Muriel are very quick and the team in good shape as they started pre-season early for the Europa League. Their first half against Carpi was stunning, though they allowed the opposition something after the break.”

Gonzalo Higuain is still lacking confidence after the Copa America and last season’s costly penalty misses, so who will partner him?

“Manolo Gabbiadini can comfortably play alongside Higuain, but he struggled a lot in pre-season and is only now starting to give signs of improvement. Dries Mertens and Jose Callejon have different characteristics.

“Allan seems wiped out physically and that’s why I dropped him. There are signs of improvement and we’ll see if he plays tomorrow or next time. He’s not yet the player we all admired at Udinese.”

Sarri has a very particular way of working and admits Napoli are taking a while to adapt.

“It would be madness to scrap the tactical system after just one game. It’d make me feel like I wasted time. My training methods are like going from an iPhone to a Samsung. If you have no idea what’s going on, you feel like throwing it away after one day. It takes time to adapt.

“We tried the 4-3-3 for a week, but the whole team tended to move backwards by 20 metres.”

Lorenzo Insigne was pushing to play trequartista all summer, so is that still the plan?

“The first year I knew Riccardo Saponara, he was playing wide midfield,” explained Sarri.

“Before getting a definitive idea of Insigne in this role, I want to see him 100 per cent fit. We are talking about a lad who played very little last season. I am sure he can be a trequartista, but not certain he can be devastating there.”

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