Gennaro Gattuso saw a completely different Napoli in the Coppa Italia victory over Lazio. “We need to have that venom in every game.”
The Partenopei made it through to the Coppa Italia semi-final, where they will face either Inter or Fiorentina.
Lorenzo Insigne scored within 90 seconds and the opening 25 minutes were chaotic, with Ciro Immobile’s missed penalty and red cards for both Elseid Hysaj and Lucas Leiva.
“Lazio are a very good team and physically they can be devastating when pinning you back into the final third,” Gattuso told Rai Sport.
“We made some mistakes towards the end, but showed our hunger. Now we’ve got to keep that going, always be insatiable. This isn’t our first important victory of the season, but we tended to rest on our laurels after a big result. We need to have that venom in every game.”
Napoli were in crisis after Gattuso lost four of his first five Serie A matches in charge, but this could be a turning point in their campaign.
“I knew this was going to be difficult when I accepted, because Naples is a complicated place to work. I was stunned by our performance against Fiorentina three days ago, as we were embarrassing. I didn’t expect it.
“I took the responsibility, but then we all have to look each other in the eye and say something, which I can confirm we did. We represent an important club and have to be open with each other.
“When you’ve been together for seven or eight years with good results, you become friends and let some things slip. We have to forever be on our toes and not take anything for granted.”