Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso says any team will struggle without his best players and the task before him now is to get the club’s talismanic duo of Dries Mertens and Victor Osimhen into shape.
“We need to get Dries Mertens and Victor Osimhen into shape after their injuries, so naturally when they come on, it becomes more difficult to keep a balance with the rest of the team, but they need playing time. If we don’t clarify this, then people will think we’re amateurs,” Gattuso told RAI Sport.
“We didn’t create as much as usual (Thursday) tonight, but we did put the ball in the net. We’re having difficulties at the moment in front of goal and we do know that.”
Gattuso insists having your best players out of shape because of injuries will definitely have an effect on the team. He said: ‘I’d like to see how Inter do without Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez for a month….’
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis released a statement Thursday night assuring the club has ‘full confidence’ in Gattuso, following days of growing reports that either the coach would be fired or was being pressured into resigning.
“I don’t need anyone to put their confidence in me. It irritates me that people ask me if I am meant to resign, but other colleagues aren’t given the same treatment.
“I resigned at Milan because I didn’t believe that I could do any more there, but I won’t resign here. I am here, doing my work. I’ve been working for four years and am in my fourth Coppa Italia semi-final.”