Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti was upbeat after their 1-1 draw with lowly Udinese.
Piotr Zielinski needed to come up with an equaliser after Kevin Lasanga had put Udinese ahead.
“The second half was a good reaction, above all an improvement in attitude. I guess that's a positive sign, but the first half was very negative, as we were in a really bad way," Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia afterwards.
“I try to be optimistic and see that as a sign the squad still has the strength to get out of this moment. However, the first half was so awful, slow, sluggish, uninspired.
“I would like to say the negative period is behind us, but it isn't. We need a spark and hopefully that can be next week in the Champions League.
“We had to find a way to get rid of that first half apathy, the total lack of ideas or creativity. We pushed the full-backs further forward, had Fernando Llorente as a centre-forward and it went better.
“In football, we all know, it's credit to the players when things go well and the coach is to blame when things go badly. This team has to get the best out of itself and so far we're not doing that."