PRESS ROOM | Pisacane after the match against Napoli

These were Fabio Pisacane’s words after Napoli’s 1-0 victory at Cagliari, with an early goal from McTominay. The Rossoblu coach analyzed the match with the media at Unipol Domus.

THE STANDINGS
I’ve rarely watched it; there’s no point in worrying or getting distracted. Let’s stay focused on what we’re doing in training and in matches. It’s not a happy moment, but we have to move forward and keep fighting because, by staying positive, even the incidents will ultimately work in our favor. Today we paid the price for a poor goal conceded early in the match, a dirty ball with a series of rebounds in a situation where we were in good shape. It’s a shame because this year against Napoli we’ve lost in the final seconds, the opening seconds, and on penalties. Things aren’t going well for us, but we’re moving forward, and I’m convinced that by persevering with confidence and focus, even the incidents will work in our favor.

PALESTRA AND CAPRILE JOIN THE NATIONAL TEAM
“Congratulations to our Italian players. I’m truly happy for Marco and Elia. I’ll treasure what Palestra said to me this afternoon during the team’s break. He felt the need to thank me for this milestone, but I’ll keep the substance of his words to myself. We’re also happy for Semih’s move to the senior national team. These are the fruits of our labor, and it means we must continue to persevere and continually improve to overcome this difficult situation.”

CHOICES FROM THE BEGINNING AND DURING THE PROGRESS
When you make a game plan, you think about the entire match. We got results against big teams because we made good reads that gave us the edge. We don’t know how today would have ended with more attacking players, I would definitely make all the same choices. The only significant choice was Folorunsho and not Kilicsoy, who we didn’t want to push hard from the start. The substitutions? We were losing and wanted to be more incisive without upsetting the balance, trying to attack more, especially on the right. Then I brought on Deiola for Adopo, everything according to the game plan. Against Napoli, it’s unthinkable to start with so many attacking players, but during the match you can try different options, and we did so according to what was available to us.

FEAR AND MOMENT
“I’ve always said that fear is a useful feeling for being more focused and less superficial, aware of what lies ahead. Healthy fear is important. Our path is clear, and we’ve already been through a long period without victories, from which we emerged by remaining upright. We need to be clear-headed, calm, and work together to reach our goal.”

IMPORTANT RETURNS
“We’re happy to have Gaetano and Deiola back. They’re not yet at their best, but having them back with us and being able to work on them during the break is a positive way to build on this. We’ll evaluate Liteta’s condition, as he suffered a bruise to his left ankle in training.”

RATERINK AND MENDY
“They did what we asked. Othniel arrived in January and is continuing his integration; why him and not Zappa? It was simply a technical choice. Paul could have brought us danger and physicality up front, and he played with courage and personality despite his young age, proving he’s a prospect worth continuing to work on.”

EMOTIONS AGAINST NAPLES
“I think of the Sardinian people, who have adopted me for eleven years, whom I’m honored to represent and whom I hope to soon lead to safety, together with the players and my staff. These are the emotions I feel every day, nothing else.”

OFFENSIVE PROBLEM
When you don’t score, everything becomes more pronounced. Today, the team did what they could; it’s disappointing to concede in the first 90 seconds. Things didn’t go well for us in the two games against Napoli: we left them with many top players, and we found them with the same ones on the pitch. I think we lacked some details tonight in other areas of the pitch, not just in the final third when it came to finishing or finishing. However, compared to Pisa, we saw a Cagliari with a different spirit. We need to start from there, not satisfied because we lost, but heartened by our attitude.

THE FINAL RUSH
We started well with five points from the first seven, then we had some difficult months and recovered at the start of 2026. Now we’re back in a complicated phase. In times like these, it’s important to stay focused, positive, and focused. I’m going home feeling encouraged because after Pisa, I saw a different Cagliari, with an attitude that’s typical of us. It was a different match than in Pisa, where we didn’t play like Cagliari. We didn’t make too many mistakes in our performance. We can’t be happy when we lose, but it was a different performance than the last one. We also showed good things against Como, but we need more to bring home points. The break? It’s helping us right now. Usually, when you win or are having a good time, you don’t want to stop, but now it allows us to work on different aspects and regain energy and fitness. So many young players? I know them well; I’ve coached them in the past, apart from Semih and Raterink. They’re guys I believe in and who deserve to be given the opportunity to be looked after, even giving them time to make mistakes. I’m not playing them to take credit or praise.