Vieira: ‘Genoa must attack Napoli and create more’ | OneFootball

Patrick Vieira explains why he has changed his Genoa side to ‘attack’ Napoli this evening with Vitinha and Andrea Pinamonti together. ‘We too have quality and we must try to create more.’

It kicks off at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, also known as Marassi, at 17.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from this game and Lecce-Lazio on the Liveblog.

Vieira revamps his Genoa for Napoli visit

epa11779906 CFC Genoa’s players interact after the Italian Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and CFC Genoa, in Milan, Italy, 15 December 2024. EPA-EFE/ROBERTO BREGANI

“They are a team challenging for the Scudetto, which shows how strong they are, but we are in a good moment of form, our fans bring positive energy and we must use that to attack and try to score goals,” Vieira told DAZN.

Although Vieira is unbeaten so far since replacing Alberto Gilardino on the Genoa bench, he has drawn three and won only the 2-0 victory away to Udinese.

He makes adjustments from the side that drew 0-0 at Milan last week, bringing in former Olympique Marseille striker Vitinha along with Pinamonti.

“We need to play our game. Napoli are strong, but we too have quality, we are on home turf and must try to create more,” explained Vieira.

“I am happy with the way Vitinha worked in recent weeks, we’ll see how it goes, but I feel positive.”

The ex-Crystal Palace coach was asked if he will man-mark Napoli key midfielder Stanislav Lobotka or instead focus on cutting off those passing channels to limit service to the forwards.

“We must keep it tight, not allow them space between the lines to play in with their great technique. We have to play a very careful match off the ball.”

Genoa are truly tough to break down, having kept three consecutive clean sheets, but also failed to score in three of Vieira’s four games in charge.

The Grifone are wearing special patches on their jerseys in a sponsorship deal with Netflix series Squid Game, with ‘guards’ from the show looming over the players during the warm-up.