Gennaro Gattuso’s time in Naples could hardly have gotten off to a worse start as his side fell 2–1 at home to Parma courtesy of a 90th minute Gervinho strike.
Napoli are now winless in the last four matches at Stadio San Paolo, their longest streak since March 2010, while Parma have now taken points from five straight away fixtures and move above their opponents to seventh in the Serie A table.
All eyes were on Gattuso but things went south quickly as his side were down a goal inside just four minutes, as highly touted 19-year-old Swede Dejan Kulusevski pounced on a defensive error to slot calmly past Alex Meret for his fourth strike of the season.
Arkadiusz Milik headed home the equaliser for Napoli just after the hour mark, and just as it looked like the match was destined to end in a draw, Gervinho tapped into an empty net with the Partenopei caught out in search of a winner.
Despite the change at the helm, the only real difference between this Napoli side and the one that beat Genk midweek was the inclusion in attack of Lorenzo Insigne in place of Dries Mertens. Parma likewise made only one change to the 11 that beat Sampdoria last time out, with Gaston Brugman replacing Juraj Kucka in midfield.
Following that early strike, things went from bad to worse for the home team as Kalidou Koulibaly was injured in the build-up to the goal, with the Senegalese defender limping off the pitch, being replaced by Sebastiano Luperto.
Napoli eventually managed to gain a foothold after a frantic start, dominating possession and controlling the game.
Parma, as was likely the plan from the outset and reinforced by an early lead, was happy to sit back, absorb pressure and look to take advantage of the pace and skill of Gervinho and Kulusevski on the counter.
The Partenopei were close to an equalizer on more than one occasion but the lack of the final ball haunted them as first Piotr Zielinski, then Lorenzo Insigne, twice, failed to hit the target from inside the box and test Luigi Sepe in the Parma net.
Yet despite the chances and territorial advantage Napoli enjoyed, it was Parma who came the closest to scoring when Gervinho’s shot from the top of the box was parried onto the post by Meret before being cleared by Mario Rui.
In the final minute of the first half Napoli were initially awarded a penalty by referee Marco di Bello for a clip on Zielinski, but a VAR review would reveal the contact worthy only of a freekick from the edge of the box that ultimately came to nothing.
Whistled off the pitch at the break, Napoli came out on the front foot and looked a different team to start the second half.
After a string of chances led to a series of fine saves from Sepe, the breakthrough felt inevitable when it finally came on 64 minutes.
It was Dries Mertens, introduced in an attacking move just a minute earlier for Allan, whose cross Milik rose to meet in the center of the area to head home for the equalizer.
Hirving Lozano was brought on for Insigne as Gattuso’s side continued to commit numbers forward in search of a winner, but it was Gervinho, twice denied previously by Meret who finished a clinical stoppage time Parma counter attack by tapping into an empty net a perfect set up from Kulusevski to clinch all three points for the visitors.
