Spalletti: ‘Fiorentina will take game to Napoli’
Luciano Spalletti has injury updates for Napoli and warns Fiorentina will ‘snatch the ball off you,’ but also makes an appeal to fans of the two clubs.
It kicks off on Sunday at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT).
The Partenopei have a 100 per cent record and sit top of the Serie A table, but are fresh from their first defeat of the season, 3-2 at home to Spartak Moscow in the Europa League.
Mario Rui was sent off in the opening half-hour, leaving his teammates down to 10 men for over an hour.
That makes this trip to on-form Fiorentina particularly dangerous, as well as the potential for fatigue.
“You can take nothing for granted in football,” assured Spalletti in his press conference.
“What happened against Spartak confirms the fine line between totally dominating a match and being on the losing side.
“Fiorentina are a great club and it was more surprising when they struggled in recent years than to see them doing so well this time. Vincenzo Italiano has proved himself a fine coach, because it’s not easy to move so smoothly between the levels of Spezia and Fiorentina.
“The great thing about Fiorentina now is they take the game to you, they attack you, they want to snatch the ball off of you. Their first half performance against Inter was perfect.”
Spalletti complained that Napoli don’t take enough of their chances or kill off games, with the Spartak Moscow loss being a perfect example. Can he train a killer instinct in his strikers?
“You have to be ready for anything, but also learn from mistakes. Victor Osimhen was sent off against Venezia, but he’s never fallen into another reaction foul after that. He learned and must be congratulated for that.
“Finding yourself in the right place at the right time is an instinctual thing, and something Osimhen does have, but at times he needs to rely on that more rather than chasing down every ball. He is too generous.”
Faouzi Ghoulam is back in the squad and could be on the bench tomorrow after a long injury lay-off.
“I had also planned to use Dries Mertens against Spartak, but the evolution of the game forced me to reconsider. He is fully recovered.”
Spalletti, who is from Florence, had a special appeal for the supporters of both clubs going into tomorrow’s game.
“Fiorentina and Napoli fans can insult each other as much as they want, but they ought to know they have a great deal in common. These are teams supported almost exclusively by fans from their own city, because that is their destiny.
“Trying to aim your passion towards an imaginary enemy is not just a very bad thing to do, it is also a waste of energy. Moving passion from love to hate becomes self-destructive. You should reserve that passion to cheering on your own team.”
#Spalletti “Fiorentina protagonista del campionato, ci vorrà carattere e qualità”
#ForzaNapoliSempre https://t.co/xz4mxZEozt
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) October 2, 2021