Napoli thrashing was a Roma reaction

Napoli defender Salvatore Aronica has put his side’s 6-1 thrashing of Genoa in the Serie A down to lessons learned from their loss to Roma.

Walter Mazzarri’s men suffered a surprise 3-1 loss to Roma on Sunday, but responded in style at Stadio San Paolo on Wednesday.

Aronica, 33, revealed Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis was unhappy with the defeat to Roma, and the players had sat down to analyse the loss hoping they would bounce back.

He was glad they had produced a strong performance against Genoa, and said it was an excellent response heading into the New Year break.

“Mr President (De Laurentiis) was a bit disappointed with the defeat at Roma and has asked us to improve our performance and try to gain three points,” Aronica said.

“During the week, we analysed the mistakes made in the match against Roma and have managed to redeem ourselves and make a great performance.”

“We have scored many goals and conceded very few occasions – therefore I think we’re closing 2011 in the best possible way making everyone happy; the supporters, Mr President and ourselves.”

Napoli, who had Edinson Cavani net a brace to go with goals from Marek Hamsik, Goran Pandev, Walter Gargano and Juan Camilo Zuniga, sit sixth after the win, but are 10 points adrift of the top two – AC Milan and Juventus.

Aronica believes Napoli are among the title contenders, but said they are aware of the challenge ahead of them.

“We have played half of the championship matches and we still have to close the first round. We should concentrate and improve in the championship since we have had some problems,” Aronica said.

“We’re surely among the big teams. The competition is high and the teams will surely be well-trained when playing against us.”

“We’re aware of the difficulties we may find, but we are conscious of being able to face everyone and therefore we’re calm.”