After leaving Florence with a 0-0 draw, Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti was happy with the performance which he deemed 99 percent perfect, as a missed opportinities cost the Partenopei.
Just under 30,000 fans packed into the Stadio Artemio Franchi as Napoli failed to score for the third consecutive Serie A away match, in the first time since March 1991 that the two teams have played out such a goalless draw.
“We were missing that final touch,” Ancelotti told the press. “We needed to be a little more clinical, but we did 99 percent of things right.
“I cant affect that clinical nature of the strikers through training, I have to worry about the movements [of the team] which were almost always on point, 99 percent of the time as we had four great chances one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
“We need to improve on that, maybe it’s more of a psychological thing, but the strikers are convinced they will start firing.
“In defence, Maksimovic has shown great reliability both as a full back and in the centre. He doesn’t make mistakes, and is faultless in both phases of play. He is a great player.
“I would say Fiorentina made us lump the ball upfront too much, due to the pressure they put on us.
“But when we over came that pressure we created one-on-ones. It was just as we had planned, we had to attack like that, all the jobs were complete, except for the final shot.”
Ancelotti saved praise for both goalkeepers, Alban Lafont who made a number of good stops and Alex Meret who also kept Napoli in the game at times.
“The Fiorentina goalkeeper was busier,” the Partenopei boss went on. “They are two goalkeepers with great futures ahead of them.”
