Alarm bells are ringing at Fiorentina following a second significant defeat in the space of several days.
Napoli beat Vincenzo Montella's side 3-0 on Sunday in Serie A, a result that followed Fiorentina's home loss to Juventus by the same scoreline five days earlier in the second leg of a Coppa Italia semifinal.
"This was an ugly defeat," Montella told Sky Sport Italia. "We weren't incisive, didn't show character, heart or soul, so that worries me.
"We could have conceded a lot more than three, as we lost all logic in some of our defending.
"Aside from what people might think, the race for European places is still wide open."
The result dropped Fiorentina to fifth place, eight points adrift of Roma, who are third, with eight games remaining.
The top three teams in Italy's top flight qualify for Champions League football next season.
Montella believes the 3-0 Coppa Italia semifinal home defeat to Juve had a major effect on his players.
"We have to find an explanation, but it's not a physical issue," he said. "It's probably a psychological one, because probably the midweek defeat really hit our confidence hard.
"We didn't expect to lose so heavily to Juventus and that also is a concern."
Fiorentina, who had been in excellent form before their game against Juve, did suffer a heavy setback on March 9 against Lazio.
However, Montella said: "The 4-0 defeat to Lazio came at the end of a long run of fixtures and they were on exceptional form.
"What does worry me is their mental state, as over the last five or six days I've seen a different team.
"I don't like this team and it's up to me to give them a different motivation and spur them on to change tack."
Fiorentina travel to Ukraine on Thursday to face Dynamo Kiev in the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
The Viola then return to Serie A action at home to Hellas Verona on April 20.