Palladino: ‘Napoli more clinical, punished every Fiorentina error’ | OneFootball

Raffaele Palladino defends his tactical changes after Fiorentina lost 3-0 to Napoli on home turf. ‘They deserved the victory and were far more clinical, punishing us for every error.’

The Viola are now sliding into crisis after one point from the last four Serie A rounds, as while they clawed their way back for a 2-2 draw against Juventus, their 2025 starts with a heavy 3-0 home defeat.

Napoli ran riot with a David Neres solo effort, Romelu Lukaku penalty following the Matias Moreno howler and Scott McTominay pouncing on the naïve error from Pietro Comuzzo.

When there were scoring opportunities for Palladino’s side, Moise Kean had a goal disallowed for handball, while Alex Meret made a big double save.

Palladino recognises Fiorentina mistakes

FLORENCE, ITALY – JANUARY 4: Fabiano Parisi of ACF Fiorentina in action against David Neres of SSC Napoli during the Serie A match between Fiorentina and Napoli at Stadio Artemio Franchi on January 4, 2025 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images)

“I never talk about the referees, because mistakes are part of the sport, so I cannot comment on that. I will say that in my view we had the right initial approach against a great team. I want to congratulate Napoli, who deserved the victory and were far more clinical, punishing us for every single small error,” Palladino told DAZN.

“We had caused Napoli problems in the first half, they took control in the central portion of the match, then unfortunately some mistakes were costly. The penalty and the third goal really knocked the wind out of our sails.

“These games can help us to grow and mature, we have many young players who need to learn on the job and we turn our focus to the next match.”

Check the Football Italia Player Ratings for Fiorentina 0-3 Napoli

Palladino had changed Fiorentina to a three-man defence initially and left Robin Gosens on the bench, but the errors were naïve and a sign of the lack of experience in this side.

“It is my job to analyse every detail and see how we can improve, but the players need to learn. We created more density in the midfield because we knew that they would swap positions going forward. Unfortunately, we gave the ball away too often and also did not make the most of our attacking transitions when winning it back,” continued the coach.

“We have done very well with the 4-2-3-1 formation and that is probably our best tactic, but we changed to suit the characteristics of Napoli this evening and I thought we did well for long periods.”

Fiorentina had been in the running for the Scudetto after a run of eight consecutive Serie A victories, but now scraped only one point from four rounds. Nonetheless, Palladino is not worried about their sudden slide.

“Aside from systems, which only mean so much, we need to work on the details. It is difficult to accept that we lost 3-0 considering that performance, as the lads deserved at least a goal or to make it a less heavy result.

“We’ve got to wipe the slate clean, understand what we are capable of and each give it something extra.”