Allegri: Napoli 'leave angry' after 1-1 draw at Fiorentina

The head coach pointed to wasted chances and a late lapse in concentration at the Franchi, with Napoli now ninth after five games.

by Gennaro SanninoMonday 21 September, 07:20 CET· 2 hours ago

Allegri con la maglia del Napoli — Foto: corrieredellosport.it

Massimiliano Allegri made no attempt to soften Napoli's 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. "We might be improving a lot, but we're leaving here very angry," he told Dazn at full time, cutting off any consoling reading of the result.

We might be improving a lot, but we're leaving here very angry.

For the head coach, the problem sits in the final third. "It's not enough to keep the ball if in the end you have plenty of chances to score and don't take them," he said. "The ball goes into the box a lot of times but we can't finish it off. We need to attack the ball." Napoli's attack has managed just 7 goals in 5 league games — the same shortfall Politano had already flagged in his own post-match comments.

Allegri also raised a point he had not made before: concentration. "We train to improve everything, and one thing that absolutely has to improve is our attention. We lost easy balls in the last minute and a half." It's a detail that carries extra weight given the table: Napoli sit ninth with 7 points from 5 games, six behind the shared leaders Roma, Inter and Lazio, all on 13.

On the league itself, the Livorno-born coach didn't hide the scale of the task. "It's a very difficult league this year, there are a lot of very well-equipped teams." He pointed to the international break as a chance to get players back, "mainly for reasons of characteristics."

The treatment room is busy on several fronts. McTominay, who had heart ablation surgery in Manchester, returned to Castel Volturno (the training ground) on Monday. Meret and Marianucci are expected to be ready for 10 October. Anguissa, a late addition to the squad in Florence, finished the game with a new physical problem.

A trait, not an accident

The issue is as political as it is technical. On 17 September, De Laurentiis ruled out any change of coach: Allegri has a free hand. But his own words — sterile possession, wasted chances, lapses of attention late on — describe faults that, five games into a start already under scrutiny, are no longer a one-off. They have become a trait of this Napoli side. Admitting as much live on Dazn is one thing; correcting it in training over the break is another.

The next test comes after the break, on Saturday 10 October at the Maradona against Frosinone. That's when it will be clear whether the attentiveness Allegri demanded in the heat of the moment stayed a good intention or became something more.