Napoli coach Walter Mazzari says his team needs to pay attention in defence ahead of their Champions League match with Braga. The Partenopei know that avoiding defeat to the Portuguese side would guarantee them a place in the last 16 of the competition, and speaking with Sky Sport Italia, Mazzarri gave an update on his squad and what he expects from the match:
“Attention will be needed on the defensive phase. The team is short now but I expect progress. Can we lose with a one-goal margin? We have to play the game and not make calculations, if If we thought about anything else we would have a bad game.
“Zanoli? He hasn’t been well up until now, he was the prime candidate to replace the others. Even if I were to use him he won’t have too much autonomy. Let’s see if we can start him from the beginning. This morning was a day of relaxation , Osimhen did what he had to do. I will talk to him when he returns from the African Ballon d’Or award ceremony. The Africa Cup of Nations will be coming up soon so we have to think about doing without it in the future. Raspadori and Simeone have already shown in the past that they are up to the task. We’ve been trying to solve the problems since I arrived, I don’t want to talk about who was there before.”
“The first thing is to get through. I believe that this team has demonstrated that it knows how to play football by rediscovering the balance of last year. Don’t allow counters and pay more attentive to the defensive phase. All things improved, but with the results we were lacking.
“Tomorrow I expect a solid team that plays good football. We need to be concrete, but specifically I’m interested in going through the round being solid .”
“The defence? We are lacking on the left, everything has happened to us. Natan is doing what he can do there, I expect a greater push from him. When you arrive from Brazil in a championship like ours you pay duty. Zanoli can play on the left, but he too has limited playing time. The important thing is to be calm and compact, the fundamental thing is to regain the certainties he had in terms of solidity, even while we have the ball .”
“Attack? It’s an aspect that we have to train. We need to find goals from distance. Inter broke the deadlock against us with the first shot from outside the area. If we crush the opponents in the area must also find the goal from outside.”
“I see that there is a lack of tranquillity when we suffer a blow. Tomorrow it is essential to acquire certainties, to be solid without going into trouble and slipping away. Braga are strong on the counterattack, we need to be good and attentive .”
“Years ago the players experienced the match differently. A lot has changed, with the right recovery the players recover quickly. I’m not worried.”
