Victor Osimhen had a nightmare as they were held 0-0 on Sunday night in their trip to the Stadio Dall’Ara against Bologna.
The Nigerian blasted a penalty off target before shouting angrily at his coach, Rudi Garcia, over his substitution.
The reaction is borne out of frustration as his form seemed quite different from his Scudetto-winning season, and he appears to need a better rapport with new coach Garcia.
The stalemate the reigning champions seven points adrift of leaders Inter just five rounds into the campaign.
Osimhen, in the first half, saw his strike cannoned off the inside of the far post after a fingertip safe from Lukasz Skorupski.
His best opportunity came in the 73rd minute via a penalty, but he fired it off target.
The situation worsened as Napoli fans in the stadium loudly jeered Rudi Garcia for his decisions. The former Roma manager took off Kvicha Kvaratskhelia first before substituting Osimhen with Giovanni Simeone in the 86th minute.
This infuriated Osimhen, who was visibly angry as he walked off.
DAZN pitchside reporters noted he was shouting at Garcia in French that he wanted ‘two strikers’ to work together to get the victory.
Meanwhile, Garcia has confirmed speaking with Osimhen after their angry touchline row.
The former Lille manager insisted the defending champions are on track despite being seven points behind leaders Inter.
Apart from their midweek win at Braga in the UEFA Champions League, Napoli had to recover from two goals down to play 2-2 at Genoa and suffered a defeat against Lazio.
Speaking with DAZN, he said the negative element is the result, but the performance was good, especially in the first half.
He further noted that other positives were keeping a clean sheet.
Speaking on his reason for his decision, the coach noted a lot of quality in the squad, making him bring on Simeone, Politano, and Elmas.
“I still have Jesper available, too. When we have this much quality, we can’t always have 90 minutes with the same men, especially as we have four games in nine days.
“There is a team that starts, one in the second half and another at the final whistle. We will not go far unless I can count on all the lads. It is a positive that players are not happy when they come off, just as it can happen that I am not happy with their performances. It is a large squad, and I want to use them all.”
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
