Gennaro Gattuso’s debut as Napoli coach ended in a 2-1 injury-time defeat to Parma on Saturday as last season’s Serie A runners-up extended their winless run to eight league games.
Gattuso took over after Carlo Ancelotti was sacked despite Napoli’s 4-0 Champions League win over Genk booking their place in the last 16 in midweek.
But the former AC Milan coach’s reign got off to the worst possible start as the southerners drop to eighth in the Serie A table — 17 points behind leaders Inter Milan who play Fiorentina on Sunday.
Gervinho struck the winner in the third minute of injury time after Dejan Kulusevski had put Parma ahead after just four minutes in Naples.
Arkadiusz Milik pulled the hosts level on 64 minutes in the game which had been delayed for half an hour after high winds damaged the roofing of the San Paolo Stadium.
Kulusevski struck early as defender Kalidou Koulibaly lost control of the ball minutes into the game.
The Senegalese defender went off with a leg injury just after his blunder, with Parma also losing striker Andreas Cornelius to injury after quarter of an hour.
Napoli proved wasteful with Piotr Zielinski sending the ball over after 24 minutes, with captain Lorenzo Insigne failing to make the most of two well-worked Milik assists.
Insigne inexplicably went wide with just Parma goalkeeper Luigi Sepe to beat, later sending over a Milik back-heel flick.
Gattuso replaced Allan after an hour with Dries Mertens’s arrival having an immediate impact with the Belgian setting up Milik to head past Sepe.
It was the Polish striker’s fourth goal in two games after his midweek hat-trick against Genk.
Gervinho threatened when he raced up the pitch, past the Napoli defence with Alex Meret stopping with his foot.
The Ivorian finally broke through three minutes into added time scoring after a counter-attack with Kulusevski.
Napoli are eight points off the Champions League places with their last win against Verona on October 19. Parma move up to seventh.
Brescia beat Lecce 3-0 to move out of the relegation zone with just their second back-to-back win of the season.
Jhon Chancellor and Ernesto Torregrossa put Brescia ahead in a 12-minute spell before the break with Nikolas Spalek adding a third just after the hour.
Genoa host city rivals Sampdoria in a relegation battle later Saturday.
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