Luciano Spalletti was ready for Napoli’s incredibly difficult February ahead of their match against Venezia tomorrow.

The Partenopei will face Venezia tomorrow, before playing Inter, Barcelona, Cagliari, Lazio and Milan in the space of only a month. Spalletti’s side currently sit second in the Serie A table, four points behind league leaders Inter, and they’ll need to be on top form if they want to stay involved in the title race this season.

Speaking in a press conference today, Spalletti first discussed which team he was most impressed by in the transfer market last month.

“Inter has been good at having more shares than the others, then there are those who seem to have less, but more or less they are in equal parts, but Inter has brought home the chance to be more comfortable”

The Italian coach looked ahead to the difficult month facing his Napoli side.

“Yes, there are moments that happen, like the perfect storm, that seem more difficult, but any scenario for us must not change anything, any situation of the table.

“Napoli must do Napoli, which is built to win every game, it would be essential to have a number of players to have all these matches so close together but by now this is the normality and we must stop emphasizing that we play a lot because it is no longer an exception.

“You have to go out on the pitch with the happiness of playing all the time, trying to win them all.”

He provided an update on the condition of his team and the mentality that they need.

“I have always seen the team in good shape, then it is clear that if you always play with the same players some can get a bit tired, but they have always trained well, as a group, it is not so important what we have been through, but what counts is what we want to do now, what level we want to show and the ambition to overcome every obstacle we face, the conviction, because problems happen to everyone, more or less.

“Then the market ended, I couldn’t wait for it to end, to hug my parents, there was more doubt about some departures than some arrivals! I think I have what it takes to play this difficult game. To make the improvement we need to be better.”

Spalletti looked ahead to tomorrow’s match against Venezia.

“It’s not a passing game, it’s an opponent with strong players, a coach who knows his job, then there’s the particularity of arriving in that place there, it can create some disturbances from the attention that you must have but ours know that the game is real, you must not think that it is a step to Inter.

“This is the tough game, you have to put your availability to catch the little things to become complete.”

He touched on if he really expected players to be sold in last month’s transfer window.

“No, actually I didn’t expect anything, there was a plan with the club to remain with whoever is there, remaining consistent with the thinking of our players that we thought they were as strong at the start as they are now.

“In that perfect storm we stayed with the same idea, the danger wasn’t real because we needed to be available.”

The Napoli coach commented on the team’s pitfalls this season and if we’ll see something different now.

“We have always had some difficulties, but also the good fortune to always set up about fifteen players, but there have been difficulties, even now even if we are happy and positive, someone says we have everyone available but in reality we are missing several but there is a sufficient number to get there in an optimal way to perform our football.

“We have to be careful to keep our level, putting in what we don’t have as characteristics and what we have to look for. If we’re not on a par with Inter it’s because of a few games that could have been easier mentally, so that’s where we have to make that leap in character and mentality. It’s a very difficult match against Venezia.”

Spalletti reacted to Radja Nainggolan’s recent interview, where he told a number of honest stories.

“He always tells the truth, he’s someone who lives without hiding, I apologise to him about the night before Bergamo that he told, I really thought they had been playing cards, instead they played Fifa! I’m sorry.”

He spoke about the decision to exclude Axel Tuanzebe from the Europa League squad list.

“I explain it badly, but then you have to explain to me the exclusion of another to include him. The moment you never want to be a coach is when you call a player in the office to tell him why he doesn’t make the tournament.

“At Inter I told 3-4 because there was a reduced UEFA list, there it was a massacre, you create a group of excluded players but they are calculations. In this case Manolas goes out and Ghoulam comes in, he was injured, they are evaluations, the left-back is missing, there are 3 centre-backs with the return of Koulibaly.

“Up front the strength has to be maintained if you want to get ahead. We are getting to know each other, now he has to take care of his back but he immediately joined the group, he can already speak a bit of Italian, in training he is very good and he helps us with the counters, we thank him.”

He sent a message to Kalidou Koulibaly, who is playing in the AFCON final tomorrow.

“We are waiting for him with open arms, then on the pitch he knows how to do for him and his teammates, he always puts his availability for everything.

“They are strong, they deserve to win the tournament. I would have been happy to have seen them against him and Anguissa, anyway they have to play another game, but they had a great tournament.”

Finally, Spalletti discussed how much the Napoli project is truly his amidst a number of expiring contracts.

“It is a discussion that goes too far, there is a game, we have to finish against very strong opponents, we have duties, we have to do well now, the future then is also played in the present, in the continuous present, that discourse will be made after winning as many games.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector