We have to change our attitude, Hamsik says

Carlo Ancelotti’s return to Serie A is proving less impressive than expected. In Ancelotti’s first news conference as Napoli coach he said he wanted this to be remembered as the year he came back into Italian football as well as Cristiano Ronaldo joining Juventus.

Both have yet to set Serie A alight. But while Ronaldo’s chance of finally grabbing his first goal in Italian football is increased by his Juventus side hosting Sassuolo this weekend, Napoli face another tricky test — against Fiorentina.

Napoli are still reeling from a surprise 3-0 defeat to Sampdoria in the last match before the international break. That was preceded by two victories against Lazio and AC Milan, but in both games Napoli.

“We can’t always concede first. We have to change our attitude already from the next match,” Napoli captain Marek Hamsik says. “You can’t always come back.”

Hamsik and Jose Callejon didn’t feature in the match against Sampdoria, while another one of former coach Maurizio Sarri’s main men, Dries Mertens, started from the bench in an experiment which clearly failed.

Napoli need evolution not revolution. After all, they are a team who pushed Juventus all the way last season in one of the most exciting title races of recent years, before eventually finishing second.

One of Ancelotti’s first moves at the start of preseason training was to shift Hamsik back to a deep-lying playmaker role, known as “regista” in Italy.