Massimiliano Allegri, Napoli's coach, renewed his full confidence in his team's players, stressing the need to support them in light of the declining results that the Italian club is experiencing this season.
Napoli is experiencing its worst start in 25 years, after suffering five defeats in nine matches, the last of which was against Venezia, bottom of the Italian League, with a goal without a response, last Saturday.
The team's suffering extended to the Champions League, where it lost its first two matches, which places it before the necessity of regaining its balance and avoiding further wasting points in order to maintain its hopes of qualifying for the knockout rounds.
Napoli hopes to restore the winning tone when it hosts Bodo Glimt of Norway, on Tuesday evening, in a confrontation that Allegri believes may constitute a turning point in the team’s career.
Allegri said during the press conference on Monday: “I review myself daily and constantly, and I will continue to do so throughout my coaching career. We need to make an additional effort to achieve the required results, and continue working, as the players are performing well.”
He added: “Unfortunately, players are subject to criticism, but they are part of this club, and as long as they wear the Napoli shirt, they deserve to represent it.”
The Italian coach stressed the importance of standing by his players at this stage, saying: “We must protect the players and support them, especially in difficult times. I trust everyone, and we should not abandon them when the results decline. Rather, we must raise our heads and prove that we deserve to represent Naples.”
Allegri concluded his statements by emphasizing the importance of achieving victory to restore confidence, saying: “Winning will change the atmosphere.” We need to calm down and perform well, without being overly concerned, because the quality of the team is not affected just because the results dropped in two matches.”
Argentine Diego Simeone, coach of Spanish Atletico Madrid, praised the levels presented by Stuttgart in the current edition of the Champions League, warning of the difficulty of the upcoming confrontation between the two teams on Tuesday.
Stuttgart occupies fourth place in the league stage standings, after beginning its campaign with two successive victories over Norwegian Viking and Slovakian Slovan Bratislava, confirming its strong start in the continental championship.
Simeone said, during the press conference before the match, according to the official website of the European Football Association (UEFA): “We have turned the page on the previous matches, so what happened is no longer important. “We will be evaluated based on what we present tomorrow, and we are facing a very strong team that has started its Champions League campaign in an excellent manner.”
The Argentine coach added: “We are waiting for a difficult match against a competitor who has great physical strength and is good at applying pressure in the opponent’s half of the field, relying most of the time on individual control. He also has the ability to retreat to his defensive areas when needed.”
For his part, Atletico Madrid defender David Hanko confirmed that the team derives additional motivation from its experience last season, seeking to provide better levels and achieve positive results in the current edition of the tournament.
Egyptian star Omar Marmoush led his team, Tottenham Hotspur, to its first victory in the English Premier League this season, after scoring a goal in a 3-1 victory over its guest, Coventry City, on Monday, at the end of the seventh round of matches.
Tottenham succeeded in ending their series of negative results, winning three valuable points, raising their score to six points, advancing four places to sixteenth place, on goal difference against Coventry, which fell to seventeenth place.
On the other hand, Coventry's awakening was halted, led by its coach, Frank Lampard, after he entered the confrontation ecstatic by achieving two successive victories in the past two rounds.
Tottenham started the match with offensive activity, before James Maddison succeeded in opening the scoring in the 14th minute, with a wonderful shot that landed in the upper right corner of the goal, benefiting from a pass from his Ghanaian colleague Mohamed Quddus.
Despite the home team's control over the course of the game, the London team did not succeed in increasing its lead during the first half, which ended with a 1-0 victory.
At the beginning of the second half, Coventry was able to equalize in the 49th minute through Jack Rodoni, who took advantage of a defensive confusion in Tottenham's ranks to return the match to the starting point.
But the home team's response did not take long, as the team intensified its attacking attempts, before Marmoush succeeded in regaining the lead in the 59th minute, after firing a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, scoring his first goal in a Tottenham jersey since joining the team from Manchester City during the summer transfer period.
The final minutes witnessed Marmoush leaving the field due to an injury in the 87th minute, with Dejan Kulusevski participating in his place.
In the sixth minute of stoppage time, substitute Ben Davies decided the confrontation by scoring the third goal for Tottenham, following a low shot from his left foot that landed in the net.
Tottenham, led by its Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi, is preparing for a difficult test in the next round when it visits Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, while Coventry hosts Fulham in the eighth round.
