SARRI: "MATCHING CITY FOR AN HOUR SAYS A LOT ABOUT WHERE WE ARE"
Despite ultimately leaving the Etihad Stadium empty-headed, Maurizio Sarri was satisfied with the way his team recovered from a nightmare opening spell to give Manchester City a run for their money in the second period.
"The fact we were able to match Manchester City for an hour says a lot about where we are,” the boss told the media after the Champions League clash in England. “We lost our shape in the early stages and got our approach all wrong. We weren't closing them down properly and when you give a great team like Man City space to play in they're obviously going to hurt you. City are devastating – they've scored 17 goals at home already this season – so us putting them under pressure in the second half is a real confidence boost for us.”
Sarri added that he believes his side has come a long way since last year.
“I think today was a huge step forward when you compare it with how we performed against Real Madrid last season. We took the lead on that occasion while today we might have been swamped, but instead we dug in, believed in our ability and got ourselves back in it. We may have lost today but if we analyse the match properly it will be good for our self-belief. I can't explain why we were so hesitant in the opening exchanges – in doing so we gave an already fantastic side a helping hand. Having said that, they're capable of putting anyone under the cosh on home soil so I think we deserve credit for the way we fought back. Seeing that first penalty saved could have knocked our morale but we kept plugging away. That's something we must bear in mind in future. As I said, holding our own against Man City for an hour says a lot about us. Now we must push on from here.”
Finally, the coach was asked about Napoli's chances of qualifying from the group: “We can't be looking at all the permutations. Our aim is simply to win the next three matches and progress to the next round. We'll take them one at a time and see where we end up.”
(Photo LaPresse)
