Garcia agrees with Osimhen’s demands for Napoli

By Peter Akinbo

New Napoli coach Rudi Garcia agrees with Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen that the Partenopei should always focus on what they can improve, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The 2-0 win over Sassuolo was the home debut for the coach, who took over from Scudetto winner Luciano Spalletti, and he had already overseen a 3-1 comeback triumph in the season opener away to Frosinone.

It was on paper a fairly comfortable victory, Osimhen converting a penalty and Raspadori missing another spot-kick before Kvicha Kvaratskhelia came off the bench to provide his first assist of the season for Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

At the final whistle Osimhen was furious with himself and his teammates for a move that broke down, a sign of how much he always wants to do better.

“He (Osimhen) is absolutely right!” Garcia told DAZN.

“We won and picked up six points, we practically didn’t run any risks, that is all positive, but we could also have improved in attack. I think not even 20 per cent of our shots were on target today, so there’s no miracle cure here, if you don’t get it on target, you don’t score goals.”

Osimhen had converted the first penalty and should’ve taken the second, but the Nigerian himself decided to hand it over to teammate Giacomo Raspadori.

“It is a pity for Raspa, who hit the woodwork after a couple of minutes and every great player has missed a penalty in his time.

“That is a great sign, because it means he is thinking about the team and not just about himself. I loved that. Raspadori is an attacking player who can feature in any of the forward roles, he will score goals and get assists. Raspa is not a player who can stay on the right or left, he needs to roam around and give more options to Osimhen.

“The same goes for Kvara, he must give his opposing full-back a sense of constant uncertainty and unpredictability. He is unpredictable when he dribbles, but I think he can be more unpredictable tactically as well,” he said.

Osimhen has now scored three goals in his first two games this season and his goal against Sassuolo took him to a total of 100 club goals joining elite Nigerian company among the likes of Rashidi Yekini and Nwankwo Kanu.