What a difference a year makes. Just four games into the Serie A season, and suddenly, Napoli coach Rafael Benitez is in danger of losing his job. After a successful 2013/14 campaign thatsaw the Partenopei lift the Italian Cup and qualify for the UEFA Champions League, Benitez & Co., have already crashed out of the UCL at the qualifying stage, and now, following Wednesday’s3-3 draw at home to Palermo, they find themselves eight points behind league leader Juventus. The Neapolitan club has amassed just four points from its opening four games.
“Clearly theteam needs to be helped at this moment,” Benitez admitted after Wednesday’s draw at the San Paolo. “We scored three goals, could’ve had more and were denied a penalty thatcould’ve made the difference. It is also true we conceded three goals that we should not have conceded. I think the side still lacks a sense of calm.”
Asked whether he felt his jobis at risk, the Spaniard said: “No. I haven’t spoken to the President [Aurelio De Laurentiis], but I don’t need to talk to him every five minutes to ask if I’m at riskor not at risk. This team did well before and will do well again.” He added: “I am the coach of a strong team that did well last year and need to get them kick-started again. We have to doit all together, I do my part and we must all work together to get the best out of a quality squad.”
Meanwhile, De Laurentiis has yet to publicly endorse Benitez following Napoli’spoor start to the season.