Matteo Politano visibly showed his frustration for getting replaced in the second half of the Fiorentina game, becoming the third Napoli player to do that in the early portion of the season. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen had similar minor incidents beforehand.
As Il Mattino reports, the winger was taken out in the 12th minute of the second half. He didn’t greet Jens-Lys Cajuste who was coming in and waved his arm toward the coach to protest. The tactician is catching flak for his puzzling subs. They had no meaningful impact and arguably made things worse.
Garcia inserted Giacomo Raspadori for Frank Anguissa, who sustained a left thigh injury, in the first half to make the lineup more attacking. He changed his mind shortly after the interval, returning to his usual scheme by fielding a box-to-box midfielder instead of Politano.
The boss will look to repair some relationships inside the locker room during the break. He traded barbs with Mario Rui’s agent late last week. He replied to the tirade by Mario Giuffredi by saying that the fullback didn’t share his words. The representative then accused him of making stuff up.
Our Take on Napoli, Garcia, and Politano
It looks like these things will be recurring until they can string together four of five wins in a row, allowing the manager to prove his worth in the locker room. However, he has been outcoached a few times already.
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