Serie A: Napoli coach Spalletti laments over Lecce draw, says players not in good shape

Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti admitted frustration after their 1-1 draw with Lecce.

Lorenzo Colombo had a penalty saved by Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret before the Azzurri went ahead via Eljif Elmas. However, Colombo later grabbed the equaliser with a stunning effort.

“We need to play the ball cleaner and use more quality in building moves,” Spalletti told DAZN.

“Lecce clammed up and made it more difficult to find spaces, but the team played the way it needed to, it just moved the ball slowly, especially in the first half. The passes just sort of petered out along the way. That is why I introduced Stanislav Lobotka.”

Spalletti hooked new signings Tanguy Ndombele and Giacomo Raspadori at halftime.

The coach explained, “There are games every three days, we need to get everyone minutes on the pitch and minutes to rest. I tried to have more attacking momentum with Raspadori, while Elmas was meant to protect his position and seek balance, but we got stretched out too often and lost momentum.

“We didn’t see the right runs so the crosses weren’t converted, we became too predictable.”