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At the end of the match against Lecce, the Napoli coach Francesco Calzona will speak in the conference room of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium to answer questions from the press. On Tuttonapoli.net, as usual, the live text of the press conference.
8.14pm – The press conference begins.
What changed after Napoli-Atalanta? “The exit from the Champions League was a setback. This situation of winning every Sunday weighed a lot, we didn’t have the strength to win the games. We have a very high average of goals scored on opponents’ chances. This certainly created problems for us. Even today we conceded something to Lecce, even though we create a lot.”
Will this group still have a future? “The players can be suitable or less suitable, not poor. Lindstrom is a strong player, with characteristics not suitable for teams like Napoli who play in the last 30 metres. Maybe he changes teams and is better off. Maybe I wasn’t able to let them express themselves to the maximum but they are valuable players. The new ones have suffered greatly from this situation. They have been penalized to adapt to a new country and a new championship.”
Maybe you could have used a different system? “I thought about it, because I don’t stick to one formation. I try to place players to do well, but this team doesn’t have great characteristics to play with the 4-2-3-1. The only one who can play as a sub is Raspadori , but this way you limit Lobotka and then you have wingers like Politano and Kvara who are purely offensive players and only Anguissa defends, suitable for that role while Lindstrom would struggle a lot in the defensive phase I tried to adapt to the characteristics of the players I found. I would have also played with a three but then there is the balance which leads you to no longer have defensive possession because it becomes a 4-5-1 The problem wasn’t creating, we conceded a lot of goals and conceded three goals, we are at 60% based on what the opponent created. This average in Serie A is 27%. I wasn’t able to create enough attention to avoid conceding all these goals. We have no sense of danger, this is absurd. I wasn’t able to pass it on, unfortunately that’s how it is and I’m sorry.”
Convinced you have prepared the match well? “We prepared it very well, there was no reason to go on retreat. Our usual hotel is in Pozzuoli and because of the tremors we didn’t want to cause any problems. Since these guys are professional, we thought it appropriate to meet up this morning. It’s not that if you go to retreat you win and if you don’t go you lose.”
Di Lorenzo, why did you change it? “I was happy with Mazzoccchi’s performance in Florence, I wanted to give a bit of push to the right at the end. I thought I could improve the situation and for that I removed Di Lorenzo even if I thought about what happened during the week”.
Now the European Championships begin, will this experience have been a good thing? “I’m very sorry that this season happened to Napoli, from tomorrow I will think about Slovakia.”
What do you want to say to the fans? “They made a peaceful protest, in my management as long as there was hope of going to the cups they always supported us. You can’t say anything to them, in other stadiums they protest strongly, here the protest was very civil”.
Have you ever thought about resigning? “Why resign? Why does a coach resign? For the results, but I can guarantee that the team has always trained very well. There were never any controversies at Castel Volturno but only confrontations. I didn’t come to Naples for money, I see no reason for that. If I had seen a team that didn’t follow me then… but nothing happened. Only comparisons, as happens in every team. By resigning I would have also put the club that chose me in difficulty.”
Calzona takes the floor: “I wanted to thank you all, you were kind and good. I saw professionalism on your part.”
