Naples, the complicated relationship between Gattuso and Lozano

Even before Italian football resumed its course after the lockdown, Gattuso had taken it out on Hirving Lozano. There were a few hours to go until the final of the Italian Cup against Juventus and the coach had removed his player from training accusing him of lack of commitment. «Who is tired, who does not feel like it, who is not clear-headed, for me can stay in the locker room […] I want people who go at a thousand an hour, I don’t allow anyone to ruin a training session », Gattuso commented on that episode, without naming names but with a very clear message to his striker.

Until that moment Lozano had played very little with the new coach. Gattuso had arrived on the Napoli bench on 11 December 2019 and, in the two and a half months of football before the stop for Covid-19, the Mexican had started as a starter only in the Italian Cup against Perugia, having only crumbs in the league , covered in the role of winger by Callejon on the right and Insigne on the left, also labeled as the protégé of Ancelotti, who had not left a good memory.

Things hadn’t changed much during the summer, despite the forcing that the teams were forced to make up for missed matches. Even when Lozano had scored a goal (and touched another) in the few minutes played against Verona, Gattuso had put him to attention: “I don’t like to bear a grudge, but I think that when you are part of a football team must all go in the same direction ». Then when he scored again, against Genoa, Gattuso used the carrot and the stick together: “He deserves these satisfactions, I didn’t give him and I won’t give him anything.”

The attention that the coach gives to Lozano are also evident for us who are on the sofa. Thanks to the empty stadiums it is possible to hear Gattuso, with that hoarse tone of voice that always seems on the point of exploding, driving Lozano almost as if he had a vocal joystick. She calls him “Chucky” – after the killer doll in the movie to which she owes her nickname – which makes her screams even more alienating in some ways. Just in the match against Verona, Gattuso chased his player even if he was stationed on the other band, more than 70 meters away from him, filling the Bentegodi with his voice.

Two examples from that game alone: ​​”Chucky helps” he yells while in Naples he is not in possession or just “Chucky come on” when he sees the Mexican standing in the middle of the field.

The relationship between the two seems to be the most classic teacher and pupil, with Gattuso in the role of the gruff teacher and Lozano in those of the pupil who has to grow up, also because of that face that makes him look like an eternal child, despite being 25 years old, who for a footballer they are not few.

In the summer then, at least according to the reconstruction of the Gazzetta dello Sport, Gattuso had convinced the management not to give up the attacker using masterly words: “Leave him to me and I will bring him back to his level”. Since retirement, things seemed to have changed: Callejon’s departure had freed up a space on the right where Gattuso had decided to permanently try Lozano, in the new form with which Napoli would face the season, the 4-2-3-1. For the coach it was the mental attitude of his player that changed the cards on the table: «When I arrived, he was not always present from a mental point of view. Some days he thought he was still in Eindhoven, others in Mexico and this was not good. Now I see him more present ».

Playing as a starter on matchday one against Parma, the fans learned to be accompanied by a continuous background that often reads only “Dai Chucky”, “Go Chucky” or just “Chucky, Chucky”. Recalls that sometimes only serve to spur Lozano, but that in other circumstances hide tactical messages that the Mexican must interpret, such as adjusting the pressing angle while the ball is in possession of the opposing goalkeeper or how to move as best as possible while Insigne carries the ball from the ‘other side. Decrypting these messages is not easy, tied together they form a strange ancestral litany, as if Gattuso were using a particular vibration of his vocal cords to enter directly into Lozano’s subconscious.

Gattuso calls it not in English (ciachi), but just “ciuchi”, as it is called in Mexico.

Screams that may seem more mystical than useful, as those of the coaches often seem to us in this phase without an audience, with a rather standard and not very technical phrasebook (“cover”, “come back”, “make it turn” do not scream much more in the 90 ‘), but which – not alone I guess – stimulated Lozano. In the first three league games, the Mexican scored four goals, showing himself as perky and reactive as his coach wants him. It seemed like a moment of rebirth for both: Gattuso had raised Napoli by finding a perfect balance between show and organization, while Lozano had shown noticeable growth compared to the disappointing first season in Italy. However, the coach continued to keep his player on edge: after the brace against Atalanta he said that he wanted it “More badass”.

The 45 minutes in which Lozano plays on Gattuso’s side are particularly impressive. The coach calls him constantly, pushes him, motivates him, takes him back, as if he were afraid that without his voice Lozano could get lost in his fairy world. Only in the first half against Atalanta did he hear Gattuso address his player the following phrases: “Come on Chucky!”, “Good Chucky”, “Come on, aim it, aim it”, “Second Chucky”, “Go Chucky, come on come on, come on », plus other indecipherable indications. In those 45 minutes Lozano had scored two goals (curiously the only two occasions in which the coach hadn’t shouted at him).

But it’s not just what you hear. Even in the dead moments of the game, Lozano is one of the most catechized by Gattuso, who calls him, talks to him, puts a hand on his shoulder, explains how to play, where to position himself. A dialogue that is not only unique – Lozano’s voice is never heard on the pitch – but also difficult. Asked at the end of the first half of the match with Crotone on what were the indications he was receiving from the coach, Lozano had candidly admitted that he did not understand.

– “What was Gattuso telling you?”

– “Eh I don’t know”

You are too handsome Chucky! ♥ ️⚽ pic.twitter.com/PZY1KbphyX

– Zielu’s Brother (@ zielulife2) December 6, 2020

During the break for the national teams, the Mexican he had confirmed that relations with the coach were not easy, but also the value of his work in the improvements seen this season: “Gattuso is very direct and when he gets angry he becomes an ogre, but you learn a lot from him, I learned to manage relationship with him “. Then she had called him a good person.

Indeed Gattuso may seem like an ogre when he addresses Lozano. In fact, his screams are not just generic incitements or vague indications. On some occasions, more than a coach, he may seem like one of those fathers who is never happy with what their son does. As reported by Giulia Mizzoni, during the match against Fiorentina, just before Insigne’s advantage scored, Gattuso shouted to Lozano – at that moment on the wing next to the benches – “Chucky, look at the game has begun.” In the first 4 ‘of the game the Mexican had not touched a ball, but immediately afterwards, on the first touch, he had started the action of the goal. Even clearer, which was also picked up by the directional microphones, is the incitement-threat (I don’t know, you evaluate what comes closest) that Gattuso addressed to Lozano towards the end of the first half of the match against Roma. . “You have to engrave […] I’ll kill you »he ordered his player, even showing him his fist as he passed by in a moment of tiredness of the game.

After the initial hangover, Napoli began to sway. Great performances such as the 4-0 victory with Roma or the 6-0 with Fiorentina have alternated with more negative results, such as the double defeat against Lazio and Inter or the Super Cup final lost against Juventus. Gattuso suddenly finds himself in question, at least reading the newspapers, but his trust in Lozano has remained intact. He is the third most used player in the squad after Manolas and Di Lorenzo, the first by goal and by npxG created. The fourth for xA. Between positivity to the tampons and injuries, the Napoli attack has been broken down and reassembled several times. Lozano was the most continuous. On a team that has a hard time building an effective positional attack, its accelerations are the easiest and most immediate way to create danger. It is no coincidence that one of the phrases that can be heard most often in Gattuso is “Chucky go puntalo”, as if the Mexican’s ability in dribbling could be triggered by the bench.

After the defeat against Verona, despite Lozano’s goal after 9 seconds, Gattuso spoke of “poison”: «The word poison is easy for you, but you don’t go to the supermarket and you buy it. Poison is a complex word and it is not enough to name it to put it in the players ». The coach has always had this very straightforward vocabulary, but also difficult to frame out of a rhetorical discourse. Seeing Napoli play it is difficult to believe that the problem is a generic “lack of poison”, but these are issues that Gattuso will have to try to solve in the coming weeks.

However, if we want to take the existence of a poison for players for good, Lozano seems to have taken it this season (how can this be a positive thing, it’s another thing). Whether it’s thanks to Gattuso’s screams from the sidelines or whether it’s despite these it’s hard to say. Whatever happens, while waiting for the fans, Gattuso’s “Chucky Chucky”, which vaguely recalls that of Verdena in Die delay, is a stimulating background.