Gennaro Gattuso said he was “worried and scared” as Napoli fell 2-0 at home to Fiorentina on Saturday leaving last season’s Serie A runners-up scrambling to save their season.

A third consecutive defeat saw the southern giants slump to 13th position as they sit closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places.

Napoli are without a league win at their San Paolo Stadium since October 19 ahead of hosting Barcelona in the Champions League in a month’s time.

For Gattuso the “soulless, unwatchable and embarrassing” defeat was his fourth in five league games since replacing Carlo Ancelotti on December 11, with the club then in seventh spot.

“I’m very worried,” admitted the 42-year-old former AC Milan coach.

“We have hit rock bottom and we need to understand what we are going towards.

“We’re not looking at the Champions League, we’re looking at the scary ranking. We’re playing with fire.”

Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic scored in either half to give Fiorentina a valuable win in Naples.

“The performance was embarrassing, we must apologise to the fans and the city,” continued Gattuso.

“We only did a little bit in the first 20-25 minutes, then we were unwatchable. We tickled the opponents, without competitive fury.”

Gattuso said the team had agreed to head straight to a training retreat at Castel Volturno, northwest of Naples, before hosting Lazio in the Italian Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday and welcoming champions Juventus to Naples next weekend.

“We have to look at each other, be together, let off steam and look for solutions. What we are doing is not enough,” explained Gattuso.

“I was convinced that we would have a great performance today but I saw a team that did the opposite of what we had prepared.”