Ancelotti: 'Wasted Napoli opportunity'

By Football Italia staff

Carlo Ancelotti insists he would’ve been “disappointed” even if Napoli had drawn with Juventus rather than lose 4-3. “We wasted an opportunity.”

The Partenopei fought back from 3-0 down in the space of 16 minutes, but were beaten in stoppages by a bizarre Kalidou Koulibaly own goal.

“It was not a positive test, as we played badly for an hour. It seemed over, we got it back on track and it could’ve ended 3-3 or 4-3, it wouldn’t have changed the fact our performance was insufficient,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.

“The game changed because Juve focused on the counter-attack after going 3-0 up and we took more control of the ball. Lozano added more weight to the attack, but it wasn’t just his introduction.

“We allowed Juve to press us, Fabian Ruiz was left isolated throughout the first half and we never found him, because the spaces to go on the counter were there, we just didn’t use them.

“The defence was in place with seven or eight players in the final third on the Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo goals, so it’s not as if we were caught on the counter then.

“We were unable to find Fabian Ruiz, but we did better after the break when we moved things around and he was able to hurt them.

“The defence is not an individual issue or one of technique. We conceded seven goals in two rounds because the whole team aren’t sacrificing themselves enough to help out.”

This was an early Scudetto showdown and Napoli were meant to be favoured because they were building on last season, whereas Juve have only just started working with Maurizio Sarri.

“Juventus have so much character and quality, we know that they always step up in the crunch moments of the season. We can compete, but we wasted an opportunity today, above all that hour where we just didn’t play. That is really disappointing.

“I would’ve been disappointed even if it had ended 3-3, because the performance remained the same. Koulibaly won’t go on international duty, so he has the chance to train and focus on finding his form during the next couple of weeks.”

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