Del Genio: Allegri sacking not on De Laurentiis's mind

The pundit told worried Napoli fans that only a disaster would change the president's mind, after three straight defeats to Como, Inter and Arsenal.

by Rosaria CimminoSaturday 12 September, 07:24 CET· 2 hours ago

Lo stadio Diego Armando Maradona di Napoli

Lo stadio Diego Armando Maradona — Foto: Mister No · CC BY 3.0

Three straight defeats across the league and the Champions League — against Como, Inter and Arsenal — have revived fears among supporters of a repeat of the collapse that followed Napoli's Spalletti-led title season. On "Linea Calcio" on Canale 8, several fans pressed journalist Paolo Del Genio on head coach Massimiliano Allegri's position.

I think replacing the coach isn't even the last of De Laurentiis's thoughts right now, and I don't think it will be for a very long time. Let's hope we never get there, because the scenario would be this: if the president ever came round to the idea of replacing Allegri, it wouldn't mean things are going so-so — it would mean we're facing disaster. Otherwise, he holds firm and sticks with Allegri.

Asked whether missing six points from the games against Bologna and Fiorentina would justify a sacking, Del Genio separated results from performance: six points, he said, could come without outstanding performances given Napoli have more quality than both sides, while losing to Como, Inter and Arsenal does not make Allegri deserving of the sack or even of being questioned, since those are teams you can lose to.

Napoli are 12th with three points and host Bologna at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET) on Sunday 13 September at the Maradona — the first of the two fixtures already flagged, live on air, as the line beyond which patience would run out.