Napoli assistant Marco Landucci plays down panic after Juventus loss leaves Partenopei eighth in Serie A

Napoli assistant coach Marco Landucci has dismissed talk of a crisis after Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Juventus left the Partenopei sitting eighth in the Serie A table. Deputising for suspended boss Massimiliano Allegri on the touchline, the stand-in chief insisted his depleted squad are disappointed rather than worried right now.

Stand-in boss rejects crisis talk

Landucci called for calm after goals from Kerim Alajbegovic and Jeremie Boga handed under-fire Bianconeri manager Luciano Spalletti a vital home triumph. While the Turin giants moved three points clear of their southern rivals, the visitors managed only a single effort on target across a flat display. Collecting 14 points from 10 outings represents the club's worst top-flight return at this stage since 2009-10.

Sluggish start leaves visitors trailing

Having won four, drawn two and lost four league fixtures, the southern outfit already trail leaders Lazio by 14 points and sit nine adrift of the top four. Asked by DAZN whether panic had set in, Landucci said: "We are not worried, but we are very disappointed, because we cared about this match.

"The truth is that's how the game went. We need to shut up and prepare for Wednesday. We have many injuries, as many teams do with this fixture list. It is somewhat inevitable and you have to keep going."

Revealing his post-match conversation with the suspended Allegri, the assistant continued: "Yes, we spoke in the dressing room, but there's not a lot to say. Obviously, he wasn't happy. Would you have been happy?

"He just said we should've done better in the second half, we paid a heavy price for errors, that's it."

Fresh injury blows compound misery

Already missing Alessandro Buongiorno, Stanislav Lobotka, David Neres, Benoit Badiashile and Leonardo Spinazzola, the visitors suffered further setbacks when Kevin De Bruyne and Giovanni Di Lorenzo were forced off at half-time.

Addressing the double withdrawal, Landucci added: "Clearly, they could not continue. De Bruyne had a problem with his ankle, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo, I'm not sure, but he could not continue either. Even with that, we need to do better. It was a balanced encounter decided by these great goals, but we didn't help our own situation."

European trip precedes leaders clash

Allegri will return to the technical area when his injury-hit side travel to face Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. Securing a positive result in Portugal is vital to restore belief ahead of a daunting domestic showdown against unbeaten Serie A pacesetters Lazio. Another setback before the international break would leave their top-four ambitions hanging by a thread.