Napoli’s Mazzarri acknowledges struggle to score first after draw with Genoa

Napoli’s manager Walter Mazzarri has acknowledged the club’s recurring struggle in scoring first after their 1-1 draw to Genoa on Saturday.

Coming from a defeat to Inter Milan last time out, the Partenopei narrowly avoided another loss in today’s encounter, when Morten Frendrup put Genoa ahead shortly after halftime at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

It appeared as though the league’s defending champions were going to suffer a consecutive defeat, but substitute Cyril Ngonge salvaged a 90th-minute equalizer off Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s setup to secure a point for Mazzarri’s side.

“The players do all they can, we are all doing what we can. I am sorry for these fans, who supported us throughout the match and we wanted to make them happy,” Mazzarri told DAZN post-match.

“Sadly, this is one of those years, all we can do is work hard and keep pushing. Those few errors we make are all costly, whereas we do not make the most of similar lapses in concentration at the other end. That is the truth, it’s tough to explain.”

Mazzarri on Napoli’s goalscoring issue

Mazzarri admitted the current scoring issues at the club, as they’ve been struggling to score first in games since the beginning of 2024.

“If you look at the way the game developed, we didn’t have many chances in the first half, but two or three were big ones that the goalkeeper made big saves on. If Napoli had taken the lead, it would’ve been a different match

“I don’t even want to talk about our possession statistics now, we can’t stand seeing teams who put everyone behind the ball.

“Now we will try to correct the semi-error that sparks a goal, try to put more power behind the finishes, because every time we are denied by the goalkeeper or miss the target.

“This is the problem, every time we do not take the lead, so the team remains tense and does not relax. We can’t seem to get out of that cycle in recent games.”

Next up for Walter Mazzarri and Napoli will be the first leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) round of 26 clash against Barcelona at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with AFCON 2023 first runner-up Victor Oshimen in contention to play.