With Napoli set to face Bologna within match-week nine of the Serie A, I Partenopei boss Luciano Spalletti previewed the significant fixture in a press conference this afternoon.
Despite Napoli having their best ever start to a campaign across all competitions, the league-leaders currently face an injury crisis as star-players Amir Rahmani and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa are held at bay due to injury.
In the media, relayed by Tuttomercatoweb, the Tuscan tactician touched upon how he plans on using his squad depth in order to overcome this difficult situation, particularly focusing on Giacomo Raspadori’s fine run of form within the front-line, as well as Tottenham loanee Tanguy Ndombele’s effectiveness within the midfield despite obtaining very few minutes on the pitch:
“It’s easy to deal with, we play with 11 on the field and squads are made up of 25 players. It is important to have these resources in certain positions. For example, if we didn’t have Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone during the period with Osimhen injured, we would not have won all these games. Maybe it’s a struggle for you in the media to guess my starting XI, but it’s a resource for me!
“I used Leo Ostigard against Cremonese because he is our strongest player in the air, while Juan Jesus was better suited to Ajax as they don’t have a big centre-forward upfront and he has more pace. Tanguy Ndombele provides the physicality we need in midfield.”
In addition, the gaffer discussed his dissatisfaction with several flaws within Napoli’s displays, regardless of their tremendous success thus far this season:
“We can play better, we made a few mistakes in the last game with Ajax, and if you look at the Serie A table, the chasing pack is only a few points away. That table is keeping our feet on the ground, because you can always improve.
“We don’t know where we could end up, our objective is to win games and this gives us a boost. We can only see where we end up as the matches go by.
“The exciting thing is that we are challenging ourselves rather than the opponents, we want to know how strong we are. That is exhilarating.”
With Napoli looking to extend their astounding run to six consecutive league win, it remains to be seen how Spalletti will set up his squad tactically in order to seal three vital points on the road within the race towards the league title.
Julian Faustini Ι GIFN
