Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said Lorenzo Insigne should be ready to play against Leicester City and asks the players to show their worth in the Europa League. ‘We want to have comparisons at this level’
The Azzurri prepare for their opening game in the Europa League against Brendan Rodgers’ side at the King Power Stadium tomorrow.
Spalletti wants his players to show ‘maximum desire’ to claim the three points at Leicester and go far in the competition.
“The fundamental thing, when doing this job, is to be credible with the players,” Spalletti said at a press conference.
“We are in a retreat for two months, trying to find something that is stimulating for the players, which leads them to give their best every time you wear an important shirt like the one of Napoli.
“Then, at a certain point, do we change our attitude? It would be a behaviour that the players would discover immediately, it would be the reason to lower the attention we need to have.
“It’s not like flicking a switch in football, you have to build this mentality. Maximum desire to go and get the best result in this competition.
“The match at Leicester is a top-level game, this is the bike we dreamed of riding.”
The games come thick and fast at the start of the new campaign and Spalletti said the Partenopei are ‘not in a position’ to make many changes.
“We need to optimise recovery times, change some new strength,” he said. “We need to put some clean players from the point of view of the accumulated problems.
“At the moment we are only at the beginning, and it will be done minimally, we are not in a position to think we can change four or five players.”
Napoli arrive after a win against Juventus and Spalletti said the big games gives his team a chance to demonstrate their quality.
“Our profession will be marked by what we will do in these games, we want to go and play them and have comparisons at this level,” Spalletti continued.
“They are not easy games, but important games against opponents like against Leicester, where we can show an equally important strength.”
Spalletti revealed Lorenzo Insigne should be ready to play against the Foxes and said Alessandro Zanoli could get minutes.
“Insigne trained, he completed the training so if the feeling in the morning will be good, he could be ready for the game,” Spalletti said. “He suffered a blow but missed only one of the most rhythmic training sessions and thus is in a position to start the game.”
“Zanoli is doing well, he’s working to get to this level. We have to make assessments for a similar match. Malquit has had important experiences in other leagues.
“With five substitutions and 90 minutes in a game, anything can happen.”