Mazzarri ´angry´ despite drought-breaking win

Napoli head coach Walter Mazzarri has bemoaned his team’s continued defensive frailties despite seeing them win 3-2 over Atalanta.

Mazzari’s team headed into Sunday’s Serie A clash without a win in seven games in all competitions and looked headed for a draw with Atalanta before Goran Pandev scored the winner in the 81st minute.

The victory ensured Napoli held onto second position in Italy’s top flight and while Mazzarri praised his team’s attacking intent, the 51-year-old coach revealed that seeing his side concede 11 goals in eight matches made him ‘angry’.

“There’s obviously room for improvement, the mistakes we made led our opponents to score two goals and we could have avoided those, we needed to be more careful when we conceded them, the second equaliser in particular,” Mazzarri said.

“It’s also true that we made these mistakes because of our winning attitude, we were unbalanced on the pitch and all in attack.

“I saw my team playing excellent football today, Pandev and Hamsik were great.

“I see many positives, then of course there’s still room for improvement, the fact alone we conceded two goals makes me angry.”

Napoli led Atalanta twice through Edinson Cavani but each time the visitors fought back and equalised; firstly, thanks to a Paolo Cannavaro own goal and, secondly, through German Denis.

But with the game on the line, Pandev produced a smart volley to score from Pablo Armero’s near-post cross.

The 29-year-old Macedonian striker was thrilled to have broken a 25-game scoring drought for Napoli.

“I’ve gone through a very tough period,” Pandev said.

“We know how important scoring goals is for a striker, I was losing my confidence, but today we all entered the pitch with great determination.

“We were all convinced we could gain three points, we played a great game and we deserved this victory.”