Mazzarri: ‘At least Barcelona won’t park the bus with Napoli’ | OneFootball

Walter Mazzarri recognises Napoli have a recurring issue breaking the deadlock after their draw with Genoa, reveals Victor Osimhen asked to be rested and expects ‘a very different’ match with Barcelona.

The Partenopei were coming off a defeat to Milan and were close to suffering a second in a row, as Morten Frendrup had given Genoa the surprise lead at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona straight after the restart.

Cyril Ngonge came off the bench and managed to snatch a 90th-minute equaliser on the Giovanni Di Lorenzo knockdown, but a 1-1 draw was not enough to reassure the crowd, who jeered loudly at the final whistle and again when the players went to salute them.

“The players do all they can, we are all doing what we can. I am sorry for these fans, who supported us throughout the match and we wanted to make them happy,” Mazzarri told DAZN.

“Sadly, this is one of those years, all we can do is work hard and keep pushing. Those few errors we make are all costly, whereas we do not make the most of similar lapses in concentration at the other end. That is the truth, it’s tough to explain.”

There is a trend in 2024 that Napoli struggle to break the deadlock, tend to go behind and then fight their way back into the game.

“If you look at the way the game developed, we didn’t have many chances in the first half, but two or three were big ones that the goalkeeper made big saves on. If Napoli had taken the lead, it would’ve been a different match.

“I don’t even want to talk about our possession statistics now, we can’t stand seeing teams who put everyone behind the ball.

“Now we will try to correct the semi-error that sparks a goal, try to put more power behind the finishes, because every time we are denied by the goalkeeper or miss the target.

“This is the problem, every time we do not take the lead, so the team remains tense and does not relax. We can’t seem to get out of that cycle in recent games.”

Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis was spotted walking out of the tunnel before kick-off, suggesting he was in the locker room until the very last minute to support or perhaps even take over from Mazzarri giving the team talk.

There are already some suggestions that Mazzarri could be sacked.

“The players prove every week that they are behind me. If they had been working with a coach they dislike, they wouldn’t have poured forward like that at the end. You’d have to ask them, I am not sure what you are trying to insinuate.”

It is not the best way to prepare for the Champions League Round of 16 clash against Barcelona, which will again be at the Stadio Maradona on Wednesday evening.

“Barcelona certainly won’t come here to put up barricades, so at least we won’t have to try to break down a fortress or a bus parked in front of the goal. When this team attacks, because it is Napoli and wants to win, it then gets punished on the counter-attack.

“It is best to keep quiet, face this the right way, realising Barcelona are a world class team and at least we will have a different approach to deal with.”

Victor Osimhen was in the stands today, as he preferred to focus on training to rediscover his fitness after losing the Africa Cup of Nations Final with Nigeria.

“According to him and to the medics, he was down to his last legs. He had a series of muscular issues and it would’ve been madness to play him here for 15 minutes and then risk losing him for months.

“It was wise, as the player himself agreed, to rest better and hope he can be ready for Barcelona. I say hope because I barely ever worked with Osimhen due to injuries and the Africa Cup of Nations, he was never in shape.”

“We’ll see.”