The Light Blues will host their first European group stage fixture against the Italian side at a sold-out Ibrox tomorrow night and the Northern Irish internationalist outlined the squad understand the quality Luciano Spalletti’s squad will bring to the pitch.
Speaking to the media this evening ahead of the much-anticipated match, he said: “We understand the level that Champions League is, Napoli have obviously had a very impressive start to the season as well as the result against Liverpool.
“We know that we’re going to have to do our very best at this level to get things from the game, but we also know with the crowd behind us here we can create something special. That’s what our mindset is on and it’s important that we try and put ourselves on a platform as these games will always be important for us, we’re looking forward an excited for the challenge.
“I think that we’ve got good European experience throughout the squad, obviously the journey we’ve been on in the last few years a lot of the group have been together and been part of that. The last two results haven’t been acceptable, the most important thing for us is to go back to basics and doing them well then, we can be a good team and hurt teams.
“As I say, the level of the Champions League, you get punished if you make mistakes so, we’re going to have to be at our best to get the result that we want.”
The versatile midfielder reflected on the challenges in the squad’s recent matches but emphasised that the team are fully focussed on creating a positive performance tomorrow night.
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He continued: “The group has been hurting, we’re disappointed in many ways that the game was called off at the weekend, but it has given us some time on the training pitch to work on a few things. We expect better from ourselves, unfortunately in football you do have setbacks, but it’s important that we respond tomorrow night.
“There are a lot of things that we’ve got to do better at, the amount of goals that we conceded in both games – there are a lot of things for us to work on that I don’t think is a true reflection of us as a squad, that’s how we’re feeling, we’re hurting from it but we’re determined to be better and we know that we are better. The focus is getting back to doing the basics well and that’ll give us a platform to get a good result.
“There was a huge challenge for us to get into the group stages, and there was a lot of work that has gone on under the last number of years on and off the pitch to get us back to this level and we want to enjoy it. Ultimately, it’s a really top level to play at, you have to be at your best to get results, but it’s always going to be difficult and we’re underdogs from the get-go.
“We have belief within the squad, I think going into these groups in European football are going to be really important for us. It clearly wasn’t the start that we wanted to get off to, in terms of the result and the performance but our focus has to be on getting a better performance.”
Davis outlined the challenges that they anticipate to face tomorrow evening on the Ibrox pitch, but reiterated that the squad feed off the energy from the fans in matches of this magnitude.
“They have quality within their midfield, we’ve obviously done our analysis in terms of the way that they play to try and help us counteract the qualities that they have. Regarding my experience, I think that we have really good European experience throughout the group and I’m part of that.
“We know at this level that you have to be able to keep the ball at times, if you don’t it’ll be a long night – we’re really looking forward to the challenge and we’ve worked really hard to get back here, but ultimately you want to go and enjoy it.
“I think Italian teams are notorious for being incredibly tactical with how they play, you know the quality and experience that the national players have in their setup. I think once you get to this level, tactically and technically teams will be at a higher level, it’s a challenge that we are looking forward to.
“We’re excited for the game; we’ve had a few days training together now and the intensity is there. The group has been lively, and we want to get back to winning ways and we know it’s been difficult coming up against good sides, but we have to believe in ourselves as well.
“We know that fans have been really looking forward to getting Champions League football back at Ibrox and they’ll create an incredible atmosphere and hopefully we can make it a memorable night.”
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