Luciano Spalletti was visibly disappointed after Napoli’s home defeat to Milan blew the Scudetto race wide open. ‘If you cannot handle the pressure, it becomes almost impossible to win.’
The Partenopei went into this round as Serie A leaders, ahead of the Rossoneri on goal difference, but now find themselves in third place behind Inter.
Olivier Giroud scored the only goal, redirecting a wayward Davide Calabria effort with the inside of the boot into the far bottom corner.
Serie A | Napoli 0-1 Milan: Giroud decides Scudetto showdown
David Ospina also had to make more saves than Mike Maignan, who was only really tested by Victor Osimhen at the near post.
“They won and we lost,” shrugged a visibly disappointed Spalletti on DAZN.
“We started well, passed it around, should’ve perhaps made different choices in some situations, but we made a few mistakes after the restart and were not incisive enough to create scoring opportunities.
“We conceded an avoidable goal, then Milan did better in their defending.”
Stanislav Lobotka made his comeback in midfield, but the Rossoneri seemed to control the middle of the park.
“When you have some qualities and use them well, you can cover up for the lack of other qualities. If you pass it well, you don’t need to be as physical. We were missing some players, while others aren’t fully fit, for example Fabian Ruiz has this lumbago and needs to be used carefully.
Napoli had won 1-0 at San Siro in controversial circumstances, with a late Franck Kessie goal disallowed, so this means the head-to-head record is identical.
If two teams finish level on points in Serie A, head-to-head record is the first criteria to divide them.
Spalletti was asked if this Napoli side struggles to deal with pressure, especially on home turf, after the heavy Europa League defeat here to Barcelona and stalemate with Inter.
“If you play for the top of the table the way we did this evening, then the level goes up. If you cannot handle the pressure, then it becomes almost impossible to win.
“People are made in very different ways, they have their own characters and souls. This is the level you have to handle in a city like Naples, so if you can’t handle that pressure, you have to step aside.
“I can assure you, I will be here tomorrow morning with the training plan ready. If you think I won’t be right back at work tomorrow, you’ve lost.”
A massive result in the race for the Scudetto!
Milan head to the top of the Serie A table as they edge past rivals Napoli 👏 pic.twitter.com/t3Hbwj0cpJ
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 6, 2022
At least a dozen FI articles have claimed that because of a specific game result, the Scudetto race has been blown wide open.
In other words, the Scudetto race is getting blown more often than Silvio Berlusconi ever did.
We get it: four teams have a real shot at winning. Find a more accurate and creative way to convey that.
Think you can do a better job, guy? Where’s your coverage of calcio? Or is your coverage just in the comments section?? Just enjoy what we got dude, it’s nice having English speaking coverage of the Italian game, doesn’t have to be perfect
@richard shea how is your comment not deleted ? every single of my last 14 comments havent never been uploaded. what happened to this site ? whos the mod ?
History has shown Napoli rarely handle the pressure.
And the race wasn’t blown open because of this result lol. Regardless of who won this game, it was still wide open.
Sorry Mister Spalletti but you need to look at yourself as well as the players here, as you keep getting the game plans and formations wrong.
Napoli are barely creating scoring chances at the moment and have very little creativity from the attacking midfielders behind Victor Osimhen – something that has been going on for a couple of months now.
These things need sorting, then you can talk about potential lack of winning mentality and fear of pressure that grips the squad – which also parltly comes because the initial game plans are not firing on all cylinders.
Players like Insigne are liabilities because he clearly has his head in Toronto. I complain about Kessie but at least he looks at a minimum commitment, where Lorenzo is looking like a former player….
Plain and Simple Pioli outcoached Spaletti and Milan did a masterful defensive job on Napoli but Spaletti is a masterful motivator, trying to chnage the mindset of a team that still needs a psychological push of confidence to win the Scudetto. Napoli was sloppy, nervous & lacking focus on the attack, Hernandez was a true force all game disrupting the midfield and Spaletti couldn’t adjust.
That said Milan did not overwhelm and a draw should have been the outcome, only Giroud’s experience
saved the day as Milan improved all game.
Spaletti knows that dealing with pressure separates good from great teams and becoming great is a mindset coming from confidence and poise. He is a very special man and manager.