After a 1-1 draw for Napoli against the 10 men of Genoa on Sunday, Carlo Ancelotti has warned his side that a repeat performance will leave them in serious trouble against Arsenal in Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Genoa spent an hour down to 10 men after Stefano Sturaro was sent off but Napoli were unable to find a way past their visitors even after Dries Mertens scored soon after, with Darko Lazovic scoring an equalizer.
Ancelotti’s side has not kept a clean sheet in any competition since beating Red Bull Salzburg in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 ties on March 7 and had lost to relegation-threatened Empoli before their draw with Genoa.
“We’re defending badly at the moment, even when it was 11 against 10, and that means we cannot control the game,” Ancelotti said. “If you control the game, you don’t allow counter-attacks, you don’t let the opposition to turn and run at you.
“It’s an alarm bell, certainly, because if we play like this in London, then we’re in trouble. “It is unusual to see Napoli doing that, so we have four days to focus back on the basics because these are things we’re getting wrong.”
Ancelotti had insisted his side were not distracted by the trip to Arsenal on the horizon, though in truth there is little for Napoli to play for in Serie A, with Juventus 20 points clear at the top of the table and a 12 point gap between them in second and fifth-placed Atalanta.
Napoli will be boosted by the availability of star forward Lorenzo Insigne, who has scored 13 goals and provided seven assists this season. The 27-year-old played 20 minutes against Genoa and Ancelotti confirmed he will be available for consideration at the Emirates on Thursday.
