Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said it was a good thing, the club is not relying on top striker Victor Osimhen in their push to win titles this season.
Napoli will face Bologna on Sunday in a Serie A game and according to Spalletti, having options is key to the Napoli success so far in the season.
The Partenopei could not be in better shape, winning nine games in a row between Serie A and the Champions League, sitting top of the table and already qualified for the Round of 16.
“It’s easy to deal with, we play with 11 on the field and squads are made up of 25 players,” said Spalletti in his press conference.
“It is important to have these resources in certain positions. For example, if we didn’t have Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone during the period with Osimhen injured, we would not have won all these games. Maybe it’s a struggle for you in the media to guess my starting XI, but it’s a resource for me!
“I used Leo Ostigard against Cremonese because he is our strongest player in the air, while Juan Jesus was better suited to Ajax as they don’t have a big centre-forward upfront and he has more pace. Tanguy Ndombele provides the physicality we need in midfield.”
Napoli are the form team in Europe right now and attracting attention from everyone for their style of football, but Spalletti is not satisfied.
“We can play better, we made a few mistakes in the last game with Ajax, and if you look at the Serie A table, the chasing pack is only a few points away. That table is keeping our feet on the ground, because you can always improve.
“We don’t know where we could end up, our objective is to win games and this gives us a boost. We can only see where we end up as the matches go by.
“The exciting thing is that we are challenging ourselves rather than the opponents, we want to know how strong we are. That is exhilarating.” Football Italia
