Francesco Calzona saw plenty of positive signs from his team in the 1-1 draw at home to Torino on Friday evening.
“We’re disappointed about the result, but I’m pleased with the performance,” explained the boss.
“We were fully on top throughout. I can’t fault the players and if they express themselves like that all the time, we can go far.”
Could there have been a dip ahead of the Champions League?
“We prepare for every game with total focus. We tried to win until the very end, which is an important sign. The only disappointing thing is that the match was so affected by time-wasting. Maybe we only played a total of around 50 minutes, which had an impact on the outcome.
“We are Napoli and we have to be aware of what we stand for. We’ll go to Barcelona to give it our best shot in our way and we’ll see what happens on the pitch.”
What did you make of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s excellent performance?
“Kvara is a top player. He’s also putting into practice what we talk to each other about in the week. I’m pleased with the other lads too. We played with a constant press tonight and the team performed at a high level.
“I can stress once again that I’m so pleased with the way the team is approaching games in the right way as that’s the path to getting results.
“A fact worth reflecting upon is that we’ve conceded in every game since I’ve been in the dugout. It’s not just down to the defenders as the whole team needs to get this right. We’ll gradually get there too. Unfortunately, there’s not much time to work on that, but I’m confident we can strike a better balance in defence.”
