After crashing out of the Coppa Italia at the hands of AC Milan, Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted his side need to improve, while turing a negative into a positive.
The star of the show was Krzysztof Piatek who bagged two goals with his first two shots on target, as the Rossoneri won 2-0 to advance to the semi-finals and a potential meeting wit city rivals Inter.
“Tonight we lost concentration for the goals,” Ancelotti told the press. “Then that calmness and those inspirational moments were missing.
“We are very disappointed, and we are out of a competition which we held in high regard, but the season still has a long way to go.
“Now, we have to recover from this blow and turn the disappointment into positive energy.”
When pressed on the approach and team identity, Ancelotti was bullish but insisted his side need to improve.
“We are struggling a bit to find the right balls,” Ancelotti went on. “We are slow at the back and in the last two games found a tight, compact Milan.
“At the moment, there isn’t much speed in our game, which must be improved, as we are predictable and slow.
“I don’t agree that this is a team without any identity, we aren’t in a bad patch either, it’s just one game.”
Allan was taken off at half-time, after being dropped for the Serie A match against Milan on Saturday, amid speculation of a move to PSG.
“He hasn’t trained much recently,” Ancelotti said. “And for that reason he didn’t play. Then after 45 minutes I wanted to change the formation, so I took him off.
“His situation at the club has been resolved, and everything is back to normal.”
