Walter Mazzarri, the head coach of Napoli, has spoken candidly about injuries, players and the market in a press conference held ahead of the Monza match.
Discussing the injury situation at the club, Mazzarri said, “We’re going into specifics here. For every match I’ve had a maximum of 2-3 training sessions, today is important to evaluate Lindstrom, Lobotka and other affected players. Let me give you an example: certain things which I wanted to test could not be tested as some players haven’t yet recovered. Today, I’ll assess everyone and decide who will play. The number of injuries is increasing, we are somewhat in an emergency. The case of Natan, whom the doctor says might take about a month and a half to recover, is significant.”
Speaking about victorious comebacks, Mazzarri mentioned Osimhen as an example. “I always tend to give credit to players who have good seasons, you know this. This lad has been tormented since he came back, from the beginning to the end, even when the action wasn’t there, perhaps he felt pressure because last year he did great things and there’s a bit of nerves because of it. Then there’s the Africa Cup, he had the injury. I tend to excuse them, not because I’m soft-hearted, but rather because when he returns, he will give us a great boost.”
Addressing the transfer market, Mazzarri seemed less enthusiastic about dramatic mid-season changes. “Major shifts don’t usually happen in January, there’s not enough material to execute them, I believe. Regarding the market, I prefer the club to speak about it, I want to inspire trust in the players so they can find the confidence they had last year, playing well and trying to be balanced and avoiding lightweight errors that should be avoided.”
He continued, “It will be a difficult match. Monza is a team that has given Lazio a hard time, I watched them because they play in a formation similar to ours but Monza has nothing to lose, they play well and have a good coach. It’s an extremely important match for many reasons and I don’t want to think beyond this game.”