Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti was pleased with teams 1-0 win over Roma but refused to be drawn into a war of words with Jose Mourinho. The Partenopei have racked up 11 wins in a row in all competitions and are being touted as one of the best sides in European football right now.
The victory over Roma came through an individual moment of brilliance from Victor Osimhen, however Mourinho felt “a sense of injustice” and that Napoli “did not deserve” all three points.
Speaking to DAZN after the match, Spalletti chose his words carefully, electing to focus on the game:
I don’t want to talk about Mourinho’s words or the impressions of anyone else, I just want to make my own analysis of the game,.
It was a match full of potential slip-ups, but my team interpreted it really well, despite making a few mistakes to build out from the back, then trying to dig out situations without running the risk of losing our shape.
My players did that well, creating two or three scoring opportunities that gave us this victory, never allowing Roma to do what they are good at, which is to defend and counter-attack.
It might seem from a distance like they are just launching the ball forward and hoping it reaches the strikers, but there is a tactic to the way they do it. We were able to win even in a slightly different way to the style we are used to, which brings even more credit to my team.
Osimhen? He has these sudden changes of pace that only he can do…. he will become extraordinary.
There are moments when he tries to do everything himself, attacks the ball and the goal without realising where his teammates are. But he is physical, he is strong and we need him to complete the squad, also in the air.
He is one of the best headers of the ball I have ever seen. We didn’t give him as much service last season, but he was also decisive when defending on set plays and resolving a lot of issues for us there.
When there’s a sense of danger, Kim is so alert, so quick to step up and take control of any situation. He keeps an eye on everything and everyone, so it’s more than just his physicality.
We have some positions where we don’t have subs. All the squads are like that really, if you look at Milan, Inter, Napoli, Roma, I will show you they all have 23-24 players who can be relied upon. We needed someone more physical in the middle of the park against Pellegrini, Cristante, Camara, Matic, they are more solid and have very different characteristics to us in those roles.
However, I have a squad that plays good football, that wants to play the ball to feet and tonight perhaps with credit to Roma, we lost balls that usually we don’t lose. There were traps everywhere, so to avoid them, we had to take some detours.”
