Napoli players unhappy with Pozzuoli retreat before Lazio game

Many Napoli players did not like the pre-match retreat. That is not a figure of speech.

Eve-of-match tension was close to surreal, with every eye on the head coach. There was no pre-match press conference either, and it was reportedly not the coach's call.

The retreat follows the 2-0 defeat at Torino and the 4-1 loss at Porto. Two defeats in a row make 7 losses in 14 games this season. After Venezia, sporting director Giovanni Manna had persuaded president Aurelio De Laurentiis against a retreat. This time De Laurentiis did not change his mind. On Friday at Castel Volturno, the training ground, he asked the players for responsibility and professionalism.

A squad locked in a hotel, and already divided

A retreat only works if the players accept it. Otherwise it becomes one more thing to put up with. Napoli reach Pozzuoli with a dressing room that split in public at Porto: Lucca and De Bruyne argued, and Politano said afterwards: "I would like some other team-mates to come and give explanations, not always us Italians." Add a retreat that has been badly received, and the risk is a team that takes the pitch more tense than when it checked in, not more united.

Allegri agreed to the retreat, so if it fails he cannot say it was imposed on him. The same goes for the club. It chose to shut the squad away, and on Friday it confirmed its confidence in Allegri and Manna, promising reinforcements only in January. The transfer window reopens on 2 January. Until then Napoli go on with this squad and this dressing room.

We find the question uncomfortable, but it has to be asked. Does a team that won the title two seasons ago really need a hotel under guard to prepare for a match? And if it needs one but does not accept it, what is left for the club to try? Rafa Marín wrote: "On Sunday a final awaits us." Finals are not won by players whose minds are on what is wrong in their rooms.

The match gives no room for error. Lazio, under Gattuso, lead the table with 28 points: nine wins and a draw in ten games, 24 goals scored and 8 conceded. Napoli are tenth on 14 points, Bologna having overtaken them on Saturday. Fourth place, Allegri's stated target, is 9 points away. Di Lorenzo, Olivera, Lobotka and Buongiorno are out, and Marianucci is suspended.

At 12:30 CET we will see whether Pozzuoli helped to pull a group together or only kept it shut in a hotel. Then come Torino on 21 November and Manchester City at the Etihad on 24 November.