Mazzarri blames defensive errors

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri was left to rue the ‘same old mistakes’ after his side were undone by two late Catania goals in a 2-2 draw.

The dropped points could prove vital with Napoli’s main rivals for the last Champions League spot, Lazio, winning 1-0 at home to Cagliari, opening up a three-point gap in third.

Napoli looked to be cruising with Blerim Dzemaili’s stunning long-range strike and Edinson Cavani’s pinpoint finish in the 67th minute putting them 2-0 up.

But their defence fell apart in the final 15 minutes, as Nicolas Spolli and Davide Lanzafame struck to make it 2-2.

Mazzarri’s side suffered a similar fate in their 5-4 aggregate loss to Chelsea in the Champions League, and he knows their defending from set plays needed to improve drastically.

“We can’t keep conceding the same goals,” Mazzarri said.

“We hardly ever suffered at the back and could’ve gone 3-0 up, but were too sluggish in our finishing. It’s such a shame to throw away three points in this way.

“This match is part of our maturation process and we cannot throw away a 2-0 lead this way.

Despite tweaking the defensive set-up from set pieces, Mazzarri still saw the same deficiencies come back to haunt his side.

“It’s not possible to let in the same corners that knocked us out of the Champions League. We can’t keep conceding the same goals,” he said.

“All sides have strengths and weaknesses. We made a few changes when marking from set plays, but we’re still getting it wrong.

“We did something more and knew we were tired, so Catania worked out they should leave it late to pile on pressure.

“Maybe we are naive, as we underestimate the danger from corners late on. We’ve got to man-mark and put an end to this weakness.”