Gattuso: Osimhen still not fully fit to play a full game
Gennaro Gattuso has said Napoli ‘shot ourselves in the foot’ during their 2-1 defeat to Genoa and they are still battling to keep Victor Osimhen in top shape for a top-grade game.
There were important players missing, including Kalidou Koulibaly and Dries Mertens, with Lorenzo Insigne and Victor Osimhen only fit enough to come off the bench.
“Osimhen was out for three months, he had COVID and a shoulder injury, so he’s not at 100 percent. We don’t have a magic wand, but he is showing some glimmers of hope. We know his characteristics, but he has barely played for us this season.
read also:Osimhen’s coach Gattuso may part ways with Napoli in June
“Andrea Petagna is a very different type of centre-forward to Osimhen, so their characteristics cannot be compared. The other day when I moved to three at the back, it was to counter Atalanta’s system, but also we are just struggling to recover between games. There’s the genuine risk of losing players to injury, as we only have so many who can play in certain roles. We have to rotate.
“I am worried because numbers don’t lie and this is not the first time we’ve created a lot, not scored and conceded. It’s been happening for a while now and we have to reflect on that.”
The Partenopei are now in a full-blown crisis and have lost seven of their 20 Serie A matches this season, with the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Atalanta coming up.
The damage was done in the first half with a Goran Pandev brace and Matteo Politano’s consolation came too late.
“We basically created the two goals against ourselves. We’re doing this a lot at the moment and that hurts because our losses are basically photocopies of each other,” Gattuso told DAZN.
“It’s an issue of posture, when moving the ball around at the back, you need to be in the right position to accept the pass or you get caught out. We’re in trouble because these are basic errors.
“We have to work on it. The excuse is that we’re not training, we are only recovering between games, but we’re not the only ones in this situation.
“There were shots from distance, we broke into the box four or five times, but we shot ourselves in the foot. It’s frustrating, as we create so much and don’t convert, then we give the ball away and concede. We need to stay calm.”