Landucci: ‘The critics always complain about Napoli, lost Lobotka for a while’

Landucci: ‘The critics always complain about Napoli, lost Lobotka for a while’ Max Allegri’s assistant manager Marco Landucci defended Napoli’s tactics after a 4-1 victory away to Monza and revealed they’ve ‘lost Stanislav Lobotka for a while’ to injury. The Partenopei were still tense after the 3-3 thriller with Roma at the weekend, which saw Allegri given a two-match touchline ban for his protests. He was therefore in the stands this evening at the U-Power Stadium, with Marco Landucci on the bench for a 4-1 victory over Monza. Rasmus Hojlund finally broke his goal drought after eight competitive games, and Gustavo equalised, but Matteo Politano, Rafa Marin and Kevin De Bruyne rounded out the scoreline in the second half. Landucci defends Allegri’s Napoli NAPLES, ITALY – OCTOBER 24: Massimiliano Allegri, SSC Napoli head coach, reacts to his expulsion during the Serie A match between SSC Napoli and AS Roma at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on October 24, 2026 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images) “It was a very important match,” Landucci told Sky Sport Italia. “They used to complain about Allegri that he won with 1-0 results, whereas those who won 4-3 were spectacular. Now his teams win with lots of goals and people complain we concede too many. “This has been going for a while, I remember last season nobody talked for seven months, then they started again. All we can do to silence the critics is win games, then you can see things in different ways, but we have a strong squad and I am sure we’ll do well with this spirit. “This was a difficult match because Monza are very strong in attack and it’s a pity we conceded that goal just before half-time. “We took control after the break, secured the result, and now we look to the next match.” ITALY – OCTOBER 28: Rafa Marin of SSC Napoli celebrates after scoring his first goal during the Serie A match between AC Monza and SSC Napoli at U-Power Stadium on October 28, 2026 in Italy. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images) Napoli certainly don’t have a problem scoring goals now, as they have been hammering them in for several fixtures between Serie A and the Champions League. Milan and Juventus lost today, so it allowed Napoli to climb back up the Serie A standings after their rough start. “We have to look at ourselves and our own performances. Napoli beat Bodo/Glimt and held a very strong Roma side, the performances have been good recently,” added Landucci. “Let us not forget this midfield has been beset by injuries, McTominay was out for a month and then it took another month to get him into shape. Anguissa was out for even more, we knew Monza would cause us problems this evening. “You win games in midfield, and we have improved a lot since our regular midfielders returned. Vergara and Favasuli got injured on international duty too, so these players are under huge strain and it is causing problems for all the teams. If you don’t go at full pelt, you can’t get results.” ITALY – OCTOBER 28: Stanoslav Lobotka of SSC Napoli leaves the pitch on a stretcher during the Serie A match between AC Monza and SSC Napoli at U-Power Stadium on October 28, 2026 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images) Lobotka was stretchered off in tears after a freak accident in a collision with Ricardo Mangas, and there are reports he was taken to a local hospital for tests. “He is certainly not good, his ankle got caught under him. We’ll wait for the results of the X-Rays, but we have certainly lost him for a while,” confessed Landucci. Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was a surprise introduction in goal for Alex Meret and made several big saves. “We used him today because he has a great long ball, but he also made a lot of big saves this evening. He is a very intelligent goalkeeper. We gave the ball away a bit too easily at times, but the important thing is the victory and it puts us in a good mood going into Sunday’s match.” That will be an intriguing showdown with a Juventus side in crisis, who were beaten 2-0 by Genoa tonight.