“We can still have a great season. We’re keen to hit top form again and bounce back right away.” Jack Raspadori was interviewed by Radio Kiss Kiss two days ahead of Napoli’s away fixture at Sampdoria.
First on the agenda was a tribute to Gianluca Vialli:
“I met Vialli through my time with Italy and he was such a top guy. His footballing knowledge as well as his human values rubbed off on us. What a person he was. I’ll always uphold him as an example.”
Napoli fell to their first defeat of 2022/23 at San Siro. What happened?
“I think we lost a bit of our spark. We need to work hard to get the old Napoli back. We know that we’ve done wonderfully so far this season and we’re aware that we’re capable of hitting high notes again and showing the form which has seen us top Serie A.
“As is always the case what’s most important now is how we bounce back from defeat. We lost against a top team at what’s a tough stadium to play in, and it’s just the first negative of the season after 15 positive performances.”
What are you expecting from your away day in Genoa?
“Right now Sampdoria are a tough proposition, having picked up a big win in their last game. We’ll need to put in a great performance if we’re to come away with all three points.
“We’re totally focused on what we can do. We’ll need to give the best of ourselves and get back on the right track.”
You featured as a trequartista at San Siro and nearly grabbed the equaliser. Do you enjoy playing in such a role?
“I’m definitely capable of playing in such a position. I’m happy to do whatever the boss and the team asks of me. I’ve played both on the front line and behind the forwards in my time and I just hope that I can do my best for my team-mates in whatever tactical setup we deploy.”
What’s the atmosphere like in the squad now?
“In football you’ve got to quickly move on from whatever your last result was, in our case a defeat. We’re in the mindset to push on and get back to how we were doing. There’s a lot of belief and desire to bounce back. There are so many games ahead of us and we want to get back to how we were playing at the end of 2022.”
What kind of 2023 are you hoping for?
“I think that 2023 can be a great year for us. We’ve got to keep on working hard without getting ahead of ourselves or wallowing in defeat. If we dust ourselves down and work hard we can get back to playing in a way which made achieving our dreams seem possible.”
