Carlo Ancelotti Blames 'Bad Attitude' as He Bemoans Napoli's 3-0 Defeat to Sampdoria

Carlo Ancelotti has blamed his team's poor response to going down 1-0 for their eventual 3-0 loss to Sampdoria.

Napoli had come back from behind to win their first games of the season, but it wasn't to be on Sunday as they were left scoreless as Sampdoria put three past David Ospina to earn a famous victory.

Gregoire Defrel scored twice in the first half and Fabio Quagliarella scored what could be the goal of the season late in the second half to take the lead to 3-0. And there would be very little hint of a comeback for the men from Naples.

“We had the same start as the other two games. We were able to turn those around, but this time we didn’t,” Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia (H/T Football Italia).

“We again gifted the first half with a bad attitude, especially on the opening goal. We went 1-0 down, got worried and started to struggle.

Francesco Pecoraro/GettyImages

“I don’t think we need to change all that much, we just have to start games with more focus. That attitude is unacceptable and we couldn’t keep getting away with it.

“Our defence isn’t too deep, as we press high, but the problem is the lack of pressing from the midfielders and forwards.”

The loss saw I Partenopei drop down to fifth in the Serie A table. And the manager could come under some pressure after surprisingly resting Marek Hamsik and Jose Callejon.

Francesco Pecoraro/GettyImages

Ancelotti, though, has refused to accept blame.

He added: “I wish they were the problem today, because that’d mean it was my fault for making bad decisions, but the truth is it was a general attitude throughout the squad. We made very little of the full-backs, too.

“We did fight back in the second half. If I had a magic wand, I’d change the way we started. Intensity is fundamental and without that, the quality doesn’t come through.”