Luciano Spalletti tells Napoli it would be a ‘grave mistake’ to change their approach to Ajax, but beware that the Dutch side will be fired up after the 6-1 home defeat.
It kicks off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday at 17.45 UK time (16.45 GMT).
The Partenopei maintained their 100 per cent Champions League record with an extraordinary 6-1 victory in Amsterdam last week.
They also confirmed their remarkable start to the season in Serie A, making it eight wins in a row in all competitions to top the table.
“I will have to make some changes with this fixture list, but I won’t tell you who, so it’d be unfair to share the line-up with the media before I tell the players,” joked Spalletti in his press conference, suggesting they set up a WhatsApp group.
“We have achieved certain results and know what the attitude was in those matches. We must all give something more to give us that sense of consistency.
“I tend to be generally someone quite negative, so I do tend to be prepared for bad things. We must try to avoid those bad things happening and be confident in the potential we have.”
The coach also warns that Ajax will be absolutely fired up after being humiliated 6-1 on their own turf, an historic result for the Dutch giants.
“I told my players what I imagined I’d tell the Ajax squad if I was their coach. That’s the trouble, the more results you get, the more opponents prepare and pay special attention to you. It’s not just the risk of us feeling sated, but also of getting the opposition even more fired up.”
Ajax had actually taken the lead in Amsterdam with a fortunate ricochet, which then sparked the extraordinary response of six goals.
“We weren’t ready until conceding the goal, then we reacted like champions. We realised that we needed something more than what we’d brought to the table. This time, we’ll be careful to start with the right attitude.”
This was expected to be an incredibly difficult group, but Napoli are dominating after beating Liverpool, Ajax and Glasgow Rangers comfortably.
“It would be a grave mistake for us to change our attitude now, we must treat every game like a final.”
The good news is the return of Victor Osimhen, although it remains to be seen if he will start tomorrow, while the bad news is the loss of defender Amir Rrahmani to a muscular lesion.
“It’s disappointing, because Rrahmani is an important loss, but everyone trained well and is ready to step up. I told Osimhen at the start of the season that he needs to become a leader, on and off the field. We are fortunate to have three forwards with very different characteristics, so can change what we want from a centre-forward.”
I think the teams from the past couple seasons lose this game 3-1 tomorrow, however, this team feels different. I think they’ll pull out a 3-2 win or 2-2 draw. Without Rrhamani, I expect the defense to struggle more than they have been.