Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne is critical of former coach Carlo Ancelotti over their ritiro mutiny earlier this season.
Ancelotti, now in charge of Everton, was eventually sacked by president Aurelio de Laurentiis.
“Expectations are always high and you pay for even the slightest mistake," Insigne told Corriere della Sera.
“I've never been let off, but I realised that I had to improve off the pitch too and things are going much better now.
“It wasn't a good performance [against Atalanta]. Maybe we paid for a bit of tiredness, but a 15-point difference between Napoli and Atalanta is too much.
“There's much regret. It's a shame, especially for what we're doing now. We've recovered strongly under Gattuso, but there's still some bitterness.
“Now it's useless to think about what could've been and what wasn't. [The mutiny] was a mistake and we paid for it, but luckily we've bounced back.
“I'm not one to judge Ancelotti, a coach who has won everything almost everywhere he's gone.
“He's used to working with great champions. I always told him that we needed to be put under pressure or even given a wallop if it came to it.
“We're professionals and we should walk alone, but perhaps we needed to feel him breathing down our necks at that moment."
