Rudi Garcia Spoke To The Media After Napoli’s Victory Over Udinese

Napoli was great this evening but I imagine it’s a beautiful evening for you too because the moment was delicate in the buildup to this match, in a rather tiring way let’s say.  So there was a lot of attention, the table got shorter, Kvara scored a goal, Victor came out calmly smiling, you complimented him. From an emotional point of view, emotional for you, what an evening it was, everything seems beautiful, can you add anything?
Garcia:  No but I don’t worry. I’m calm, before the match and also after. I’m happy because my players played the match we expected and had prepared for. I’m happy because Victor scored, because the centre-forward always wants to score and given that he was in the news a bit, let’s say, for two days, it was good to answer on the pitch, to be focused on the thing he loves most, playing football, and the thing he loves most, scoring, and he did it. Then he also got an assist because obviously it wasn’t because he missed a penalty in Bologna that I hadn’t named him as the first penalty taker tonight, but he assisted Zielinski and it was beautiful. Zielinsk scored the penalty coldly. And then we found a great Kvara, who tallied an assist, he earned the penalty, he hit two posts. And then he was very persistent and doing everything he could to not give up and not be knocked down by these two posts and he scored a beautiful goal, which I think now will perhaps calm him down for upcoming matches, not thinking about it because he’s been waiting for this goal for a while, since March. As I told him, it’s not just about enjoying the pitch because he’s a showman, let’s say, he loves to dribble past his man, he loves to play well, it was enough to focus on this and the goal would have arrived, as it arrived tonight. But, we are not where we want to be in the standings, in the top four, so we still need to put this desire and concentration into play and we hope to do it immediately in Lecce, because Lecce is a good team and has had a strong start to the season. We just want to make up for something we are missing and the only thing we are missing from the start of the season is the three points lost against Lazio at home, only this. Had we not achieved this result, the thing you mentioned at the beginning, you wouldn’t talk about it, but we’ll talk about. It’s only you who will talk about it, not me.

Between Bologna and tonight, Napoli found that continuity of performance within the same match which was something you always said. Now there are the conditions to have this series of results, this continuity of performances and therefore there will be the Lecce match immediately
Garcia:  Yes, yes, above all we need to recover, because when we play like this every three days, not even 4, Lecce will be the third match in 6 days, it’s a lot. Luckily I was able to rest some players and even gave others playing time, which is really positive. But now it’s just about recovering and thinking about winning in Lecce, and nothing else. The Champions League match that will come later, but we know that to get back to where we want to be in the standings, we need a streak of at least three victories, so we have to be able to win in Lecce, to get at least 6 points out of 6, and then we’ll see after Madrid.

Speaking to DAZN, Kvaratskhelia said they talked in the dressing room, wanting to regain possession football, “we want to have the ball,” he said. Is that the most important turning point this evening
Garcia:  Look, I’ll give you some statistics because they are interesting. Before this match, Napoli was the team with the most ball possession in the championship and before this match, Napoli was second only to Inter with the most shots on target. That’s my answer.

This evening we saw a Napoli that was certainly in technical progress and also in physical progress, a Napoli that was more similar to that of last year’s Scudetto.
Garcia:  You can say that.  I have already repeated it, to know a team well you have to train it. So I am satisfied with tonight’s game but I was also satisfied with the game in Bologna. We missed a shot that hit the post, we had a penalty like we did tonight. So we need to take measures, we didn’t have to throw everything away after the Bologna match, and tonight we shouldn’t be euphoric. We are satisfied with the work we have done

Determination and ambition and trust, this was the recipe that you had given a few days ago to find a winning and convincing Napoli. This evening we saw all three things and only a change of mentality. of attitude, or what was the tactical keystone that allowed this?
Garcia:  We had a bit of luck tonight, even though we hit two posts. This is the only change between the last match and this one.

I wanted to talk a little about the performance of this midfield which this evening seemed truly up to par, a bit like old times anyway. In short, it expressed itself at its best. I’m talking about Lobotka, obviously Zielinski who really played an excellent game.
Garcia:  Look, it all starts with the goalkeeper. Alex won’t be happy because he conceded a goal and he’s right, but I liked the defense. I’d like to remind you that we’ve been playing with a very new defense for two games and so I’m happy with Leo Ostigard and Nathan, who did very well. Mario came in as well and we found Mario again who has now brought all his experience to the team, his quality dribbling. So what I want to say is yes, we did good things in the midfield. These three players are complementary, and then there are those who finish in attack and tonight they did it. So it was everyone’s job and the coach is always happy when everyone works well.

In the press conference before Braga, you spoke to us about a Natan who at least from your words seemed to still be quite far from an optimal condition to be able to be used. But then, due to the contingency of injuries, in short, two consecutive matches between “highs” played well, against Bologna and tonight. Are you surprised a bit by Natan’s performance or did you expect to find a boy like this, ready after a long time?
Garcia:  Look, I said that we worked a lot with Natan during the international break and if I remember correctly, the international break was well before Braga. To the point that if I had recovered Amir Rrahmani at 100% and Amir Rrahmani didn’t play 90 minutes twice with Kosovo, where he got injured and who I had to use in Genoa,and then he left 10 minutes after starting in Braga, Natan would have already started at Genoa, but it wasn’t possible. But at least the work we did allowed Natan to fit in with quality. knowing his teammates much more, the way to play, the way to defend, but I’m really happy because he listened, he worked hard and now he’s showing that he’s ready to do good things, or for the moment. I can’t say four central defenders, I only have two, so I also have to think about what to do if I lose one.

We also saw it, we have already seen it in Bologna, but tonight even more so a much shorter, more compact team that was able to move on the pitch in a more harmonious way compared to some of the previous matches. Was this only a tactical adjustment or also a better, let’s say, athletic performance of the players who, little by little, are getting in shape?
Garcia:  I do a bit of everything but above all, when we don’t give anything to the opponent in the buildup, we don’t lose dangerous balls before the last 30 meters, then you are a little more calm, then you don’t have to worry about counterattacks or are you able to counter-press immediately to recover the ball, as we did tonight, which was good. Let’s see if we can continue.