Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina has urged fans not to whistle the team after the players, including Lorenzo Insigne, came in for criticism during Wednesday night's 3-2 defeat at home to Besiktas.
The result against Besiktas was Napoli's third straight loss, with back-to-back Serie A defeats to Atalanta and Roma seeing them fall off the pace in the league while their future in the Champions League is now back in the balance.
"Our fans are always sacred and we need to have faith in them like they must have faith in us," Reina told Mediaset. "We have got to remain united. The fans are sacred and can do as they please, but I would prefer it if they didn't whistle, although that is just my opinion and I respect the fans' decision.
"We need to raise our game, me first of all. We need to accept the criticism because, as a good friend and fellow goalkeeper of mine once said, criticism gives you renewed motivation to respond. It's a bad period for us but it was a good performance against Besiktas, unlike against Atalanta and Roma.
"We were not inferior to our opponents and we did all of the running, we just need to try to make fewer mistakes. We need to keep relaxed and maintain a clear mind. This is a special club and when you lose three in a row, you feel it for sure, but I'm convinced that as soon as we get back to winning ways, we will start entertaining our fans again. If we're entertaining, we are winning."
Insigne got booed from the Napoli match and left the bench in tears pic.twitter.com/zswtgOkS1n
- ItalianFootballTV (@IFTV_Official) October 19, 2016
Insigne was brought to tears by the fans after whistles accompanied his substitution. The 25-year-old missed a penalty in Wednesday night's defeat, prolonging his wait for a first goal this season.
Coach Maurizio Sarri told Mediaset: "We all need to have less on our minds. Defeats come about because of incidents and right now, none of these are going our way, but this is part of the game and we need to respond.
"We are playing well for long periods, even if we are showing that little bit too much concern and this is leading us to make mistakes. I'm sorry because we had much more anger in our game compared to the Roma defeat, so maybe this can be a first step towards rediscovering ourselves."
The Azzurri will look to bounce back when they travel to bottom-placed, winless Crotone on Sunday.