'Could see it happening' - Napoli boss pinpoints…

'Could see it happening' - Napoli boss pinpoints reason for loss to Liverpool despite 'dominating'

Luciano Spalletti admits his Napoli side paid the price for a lack of concentration as Liverpool brought their unbeaten start to the season to a shuddering halt.

Late goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez consigned the Serie A side to a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Anfield on Tuesday evening.

With Liverpool needing a win by four goals to overhaul Napoli, the Italians have progressed to the knockout stages as Group A winners ahead of the Reds.

And their coach Spalletti said: “I can only say well done to my team and players because we are proud of getting through such a difficult group and also topping it.

“We both played a very open game, we were playing against a team such as Liverpool at home here at Anfield and I think quite clearly I can only say well done to my players for their performance.

“If we are pedantic, if you look at the last 10 minutes the players as time passed – quite clearly it wasn’t intentionally – but it was almost as if they felt we have reached our objective now it’s highly unlikely Liverpool will score the number of goals they need.

“Perhaps the players were aware of that so our level dropped a little bit. Perhaps that’s part of the team’s character. Liverpool just play flat out because that’s what they always do, that’s part of their character.

“I could see it happening and tried to get fresh legs on the pitch but that perhaps reduced our physicality and created certain issues for us and then it’s really difficult from set plays, especially when you’re playing against a big team with big players.”

Both Liverpool goals came from Kostas Tsimikas corner deliveries, Salah tapping home after Nunez’s initial header had been saved before Nunez turned in the rebound after a Virgil van Dijk effort was repelled.

“In recent games they’ve won 10-12 corners every single game, particularly at home,” said Spalletti. “It’s one of their strengths, they exploit set plays and are good at them.

“We needed to keep the game on an even keel at the beginning because we knew they would come at us from the offset and I thought we did really well then.

“Look at the level of game we play against this opponent in a warm, hot environment, two teams that really went for it. What really counts is the type of football you play.

“Although we lost, I’m pretty calm and was confident for 85 minutes. We could have scored and in certain periods of the game we dominated.”

READ NEXT:

Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.

Already a member? Sign in here