Jasmin Repesa throws down the gauntlet

Naples’ new coach Jasmin Repesa introduced himself at a press conference to the Neapolitan fans: “It is a pleasure to be here. Now, all together, we have to find the right path for our team, which right now is not in the position we would like to be in.” Napoli is currently 12th in the standings and has lost four of its last five games.

“Coming here with five games to go in the league is a situation unheard of in my career. Obviously it is not something I prefer, however, the club decided to take urgent action. I have good memories of Naples for all the past challenges, but now we have to be focused on what lies ahead.”

“I found a team a bit challenged, probably this is due to the many changes in the last period,” admitted Repesa, who took over from Coach Magro. “Now I have to find a new balance to reform a group. Everyone has to contribute, there has to be a sense of urgency that is forced by the situation we are experiencing. Inserting so many players into a team is never easy, especially when it comes to important athletes. Everyone has to understand that you have to sacrifice yourself to reach the goal, thinking only of the team’s success and not individual success.”

Repesa will make his debut against Treviso: “It’s a crucial game, we have to win it to look to the future. Team, staff, management and fans, we all have to be together to win the game. Now we have to keep our feet on the ground. Mitrou-Long trained well, as did everyone else, I also found a very good attitude from him. We start with the basic things to allow all the players to do the best they can. I talked to all of them, we will have to be aggressive, run to find easy baskets. This is the way.”