Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri has blamed Nike's new winter Serie A football for his side's dip in goalscoring form.

The Partenopei have scored six times in their last five matches after firing in 18 in their opening eight games, and Sarri says that the league's new ball is punishing more talented players.

"It has been four games that we've been forced to play with the new winter ball," he told reporters.

"It does not roll as it should and this complicates the task of the players, penalising those who are most talented. For me, this means less goals. In the first eight games my team scored 18 goals because we used the summer version of the ball.

"They then changed and made us use the winter ball and we've scored just four times in 360 minutes. If the bounces from the ball are not regular then teams will lose out, especially those who are more technical."

Napoli are currently fourth in Serie A, two points behind joint leaders Fiorentina and Inter Milan.