Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri has said that it is his fault if members of his squad are lacking in match sharpness, as he tends not to rotate his regular starting XI.
Certain players have come in for criticism of late for looking somewhat rusty, which Sarri acknowledges is down to his persistence with the same set of players from week to week.
“It’s my fault if Emanuele Giaccherini and Adam Ounas aren’t sharp,” Sarri said to Rai Sport after their Coppa Italia victory over Udinese.
“Giaccherini is like a marathon runner who needs to play regularly, while [Adam] Ounas can give his best in the last 15 minutes.
“I make my choices to win the games. If I’ve made these choices so far, it’s because I thought it gave us a better chance of winning.”
Lorenzo Insigne again proved decisive for the Partenopei, and Sarri believes it is only normal for a player of his ability to regularly step up to save the team.
“In a team, you don’t have four or five players like Insigne,” he added. “He is a great player and it’s only normal he’ll be decisive, as he was tonight.”
Sarri also took the opportunity to hit back at his side’s critics, with many writing off their Scudetto chances in recent weeks.
“They said we were ‘in crisis’ because we lost two games in three days.
“The truth is, we lost to a very strong Juventus side and had a period where we struggled to score goals, but that can happen over the course of a campaign.
“We never felt that we were having difficulty.”
