Whether or not to sell Lavezzi could be considered further, but the team's performance couldn't be put off any longer.
If the team wanted to secure a spot in next season's European competitions, they had to start working hard now.
The Northern Three were all tough nuts to crack, and with strong teams like Roma, Lazio, and Fiorentina in the mix, every game was like a final battle.
Lavezzi wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, and Mazzarri didn't care if the club sold him or not; he had his own strategy. And that was... to bench Lavezzi!
On February 8th, in the away game against Palermo, Lavezzi was included in the eighteen-man squad, but he wasn't in the starting lineup. He sat on the bench.
Before the game started, the TV broadcast gave a close-up of Lavezzi on the bench. He looked gloomy, and even a fool could see that he was having a hard time in Naples.
"He must be waiting for a generous owner to come along and rescue him from Napoli... Just half a season ago, he was Napoli's most popular star, with people placing high hopes on him, even considering him as someone who could wear Maradona's number ten jersey in Napoli. Now, he's sitting on the bench. Fate is truly strange."
"When Chen Hero and Reja had conflicts, his form fluctuated. Now it's Lavezzi's turn to have conflicts with the new coach Mazzarri, which will inevitably affect his form..."
Mazzarri set a goal for the team to grab points.
They had to try their best to win the games they could win, especially against teams of similar strength. In today's Serie A, there were many teams of similar strength, and Palermo was one of them.
So this game was a must-win.
Since it was a must-win, the unstable factor Lavezzi had to be excluded.
So even though Mazzarri brought the Argentine to the Stadio Renzo Barbera, he didn't let him start.
Chen Hero, Lavezzi's nemesis, started the game, forming the front three attacking trident with Arshavin and Hamsik.
In midfield, Mazzarri arranged two defensive midfielders, Gargano and Blasi, with Maggio and Vitale on the wings.
It was still a sharp 3-4-3 formation. Nowadays, very few teams still insisted on playing with three at the back, because three defenders were at a numerical disadvantage, and it was easy to lose focus when defending.
But Mazzarri was powerless to change this situation now. He could only pin his hopes on Napoli's attacking lineup.
Arshavin and Chen Hero had already proven their abilities. He now felt that the best thing the boss had done was to bring these two to Napoli at the same time, which made his job much easier. Chen Hero and Arshavin were the team's main attacking combination at Zenit, and their combination had scored many goals for the team. Now he was almost directly copying this combination, so the effect would naturally not be too bad.
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"Let me lay my cards on the table," Mazzarri told the Napoli players before the game started. "The first half of our season was not very successful, and I don't want the team to end this season empty-handed. We participated in the UEFA Cup this season, and I believe everyone hopes that the team can participate in European competitions regularly. So I plan to have the team get at least a UEFA Cup spot by the end of this season. To this end, we have to work hard to grab points in the remaining games. Of course, this is my plan. Whether it can be achieved depends on you."
"So, starting from this game, we must try to get points from the opponents we face, especially those teams that are similar in strength to us. Especially... I don't want us to make the same mistakes as in the last league game."
Although he didn't look at Lavezzi, Lavezzi's face didn't look good. He knew that he was being criticized indirectly.
This strengthened his determination to leave this team.
No matter how much he admired Maradona, no matter how much he wanted to wear Maradona's number ten jersey in Napoli, in the face of his career prospects, these were insignificant. If he couldn't get the career he wanted in Napoli, he would choose to leave, and without hesitation.
"That's all I have to say. So, go out and play the game, gentlemen!"
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"How similar this scene is! Everyone must still remember the start of the last game, when Napoli played Udinese at home, right? But this time, Napoli is the one trailing by two goals! In just fourteen minutes of the opening, Palermo took a two-goal lead! It's unbelievable... Palermo's start was too smooth, too perfect!"
"They scored a goal by Migliaccio (giulio_io) just two minutes into the game. In the fourteenth minute, they scored another goal for the team by Simplício (fabio_enrique_simplicio)! After taking a two-goal lead, the game will be easier for them, and it's at their home ground..."
"Napoli has encountered a situation of trailing by two goals again. Last time, they relied on Chen Hero's solo performance to complete a great reversal. Can they count on Chen Hero this time?"
Fortunately, they didn't have to count on Chen Hero for the time being, because Hamsik helped the team pull back a goal in the forty-third minute.
It was better to go into halftime with a score of 1:2 than 0:2.
The eleven starting players of Napoli who returned to the locker room were a little frustrated. Because after listening to the coach's words before the game, they were also full of hope for returning to Europe next season, and felt that if they started grabbing points now, they still had a chance.
Who would have thought... they would concede a goal just two minutes into the game. This goal completely disrupted the emotions of the Napoli players.
Then in the fourteenth minute, Palermo took a two-goal lead, and the situation became very unfavorable for them.
They didn't perform well in the first half. If Hamsik hadn't pulled back a goal in the forty-third minute, the situation would have been even worse.
But to their surprise, coach Mazzarri didn't blame the whole team. He just told the players that their performance in the first half was actually very good, but they were unlucky. They should continue to play like this in the second half.
These words greatly boosted the players' confidence. All the self-doubt filled with frustration disappeared, and everyone couldn't wait for the second half to start quickly.
"We're only one goal behind! What are we afraid of?" Paolo Cannavaro, the team's captain, stood up in the locker room, clapping his hands and cheering loudly. "Against Roma, we were also two goals behind, and we still won! We're not afraid of Roma, so are we still afraid of Palermo?"
The teammates responded enthusiastically to the captain with cheers and whistles.
Lavezzi felt uncomfortable again when he heard the captain mention the game against Roma...
But at this time, no one would care about his feelings. Even his loyal ally Gargano shouted along with Cannavaro to boost morale.
The atmosphere in the entire locker room was as hot as being roasted on fire.
So, when this group of people rushed into the locker room and ran towards the stadium, one could imagine what kind of trouble their opponents would encounter...
Assistant coach Fabio Viviani smiled at Mazzarri and said, "You really have a way with words, Walter!"
Mazzarri pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose: "I think after a terrible first half of the season, the players on this team are fragile, and they need encouragement more than criticism."
Viviani had worked with Reja for many years, but he had to admit that Mazzarri was indeed better at handling locker room relationships than Reja. Now in Napoli, Mazzarri had a good relationship with most of the players. They seemed like friends, not like the relationship between a coach and players. And Reja was a typical coach who followed the old rules to handle player relationships, which naturally made the players of the new era feel awkward and uncomfortable. It was normal for conflicts to occur due to incompatible ideas...
Viviani always believed that Napoli was not weak. If it hadn't been affected by many non-football factors in both halves of the season, such as the relationship between the players and Reja, and the conflicts between the players in the locker room... Napoli would never have fallen to this point.
But after working with Mazzarri for more than two months, he regained his confidence.
Under the leadership of this person, Napoli might really improve.
He was also very dissatisfied with the club president's dismissal of Reja, but now he had defaulted to the fact that Mazzarri was more suitable for Napoli than Reja...
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When the Napoli players returned to the field, it wasn't just them who had rested for fifteen minutes, but also the Palermo fans in the stands. They once again let out huge cheers, reminding Napoli—we are leading you at home!
They wanted to put pressure on the Napoli players, but obviously, doing so had no effect on the Napoli players.
Chen Hero and Arshavin stood in the center circle, waiting to kick off—it was their kick-off in the second half. Palermo kicked off in the first half, and it was through careful planning and full use of their advantage of kicking off first that they scored a goal in just two minutes...
Chen Hero looked distantly at Palermo's goal, which was still empty.
The home team was "showing off", not coming out, but the Napoli players, whose blood had not yet cooled, came out excitedly in advance.
Arshavin saw Chen Hero frowning while staring at the goal over there, so he asked curiously, "What are you thinking about, Hero?"
Chen Hero glanced at Arshavin and then refocused his gaze. "I was thinking... what do you think about me shooting directly from here when we kick off in the second half?"