Napoli Club Focus: Must do better

Date: 5th January 2013 at 3:43am
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As we usher in the New Year and the Serie A season resumes after its traditional festive break, we shall take the opportunity in this week’s Club Focus to assess the season so far for the Partenopei. In essence, a mid term report where we will highlight the good, the bad and, in at least one instance, the very, very ugly.

The league table is usually a bench mark by which a club is measured and Napoli have continually been around the top rungs of the ladder. They have kept pace with the leaders, and despite the odd blip in performance, Walter Mazzarri has his side playing some wonderfully attacking football. They have been touted as the ‘anti-Juventus’ and the playing squad is sprinkled with footballers that are the envy of the world.

Edinson Cavani has had a blistering four months, one of the league’s most in-form strikers, a regular goal scorer and at the top of Europe’s leading clubs’ shopping list. Add to that Marek Hamsik, who has matured inexorably this season with his insatiable desire to win games sometimes single handedly for his side, and you have another of Europe’s ‘most wanted’. The rest of the team are no slouches either, with Valon Behrami, Juan Zuniga and Gokhan Inler all contributing to the Mazzarri style of play perfectly and all leading stars of Serie A.

The coach himself must take a lot of the credit for this excellent opening half of the campaign. His well organised 3-4-1-2 system is as effective as it is a joy to watch but his ability to switch to a back four when necessary and get results, has also been an interesting feature of the side. He has expertly managed the loss of Ezequiel Lavezzi and integrated the raw but immensely talented Lorenzo Insigne into the tactical set-up as if the young forward had been playing first team football for years.

So, in conclusion this has been a hugely successful start to the 2012/13 season…

Actually, no it hasn’t. If we scratch a bit deeper and take away some of that glossy top layer from these achievements we find some cracks and chasms, even gorges filled with problems and troubles that paint a very vulgar picture.

The dependency on Edinson Cavani is now a marked problem for the team. This is not to say that Napoli cannot win without him, on the contrary their record in games where ‘El Matador’ has not played is not so bad. However, the play is laboured and their goal scoring threat is massively diminished. All that really happens is the burden of putting the ball into the net is handed over to Hamsik. Napoli and Cavani are so heavily entwined that without their marksman the team is no longer the favourite to win the game. They become ‘just another team’, provincial even and are no more the strongest team south of Rome.

Secondly, the problem of the ageing backline was not addressed in pre-season and that ‘chicken’ is now coming home to roost as the club scrambles during this new transfer window to find adequate centre backs to cover for the inadequate and departing likes of Salvatore Aronica and Andrea Dossena as well as the very average Hugo Campagnaro, Alessandro Gamberini and Miguel Britos.

Furthermore, the six month ban handed down to Paolo Cannavaro and Gianluca Grava has only heightened the extent of this problem. It has now become a damage limitation exercise as the club is linked with just about every centre back in Italy which will create a very destabilising atmosphere for those already in the squad as well as heaping massive amounts of pressure on those that are eventually signed and expected to hit the ground running immediately.

Taking one step further back from the defenders, the Morgan De Sanctis issue also remains un-addressed. Regarded by many as one of the weaker Italian keepers, the veteran custodian has little competition for his jersey despite the obvious decline in his abilities. Number two Antonio Rosati is nothing more than simple cover and not very good cover either if his Europa League performances are anything to go by. Napoli need a new goal keeper and they need one sooner rather than later.

If we consider Mazzarri himself, it has been suggested that he has taken the team as far as his ability will allow him, that he appears tired both physically and mentally and that he will be replaced no matter what come the end of the season. These reports being neither confirmed nor denied only adds more fuel to the rumour mill and possibly adds weight to their validity.

And finally, the shame and embarrassment of the aforementioned player ban after the club, as well as Cannavaro and Grava, were found guilty of having knowledge of an attempt to fix at least one match but failed to report the incident, is a huge blow to their season. The two point penalty has knocked them down to a distant fifth in the league and now even Champions League football is not a guarantee with the likes of Lazio, Inter, Fiorentina and even a resurgent Roma looking the more settled and consistent of squads, lining up behind a rampant Juventus.

So, to get back to our conclusion, our mid term report is a very mixed affair possibly depending on whether you see your glass of red wine half full or half empty. Some positives without a shadow of doubt but also concerns that have sent the club reeling and in some instances derailed their slim hopes of a real attempt to win the league.

We were hoping to award the club a very deserved A minus, but having thought about it again, we have decided to mark this mid term report with a D plus.

Sorry Walter, must try harder…

 

3 responses to “Napoli Club Focus: Must do better”

  1. Rp46 says:

    What a load of drivel. Without the bogus ban and 2 point reduction the team is sitting in 2nd. The depth isn’t there, that’s not in question, defense reinforcements are needed, the same as they were even at the start of the season.

    De Sanctis is the Italy reserve keeper and has saved the team on many an occasion, dodgy defenders have made him look bad.

    Stick to writing about Juve or the Milan’s.

  2. Rp46 says:

    What a load of drivel. Without the bogus ban and 2 point reduction the team is sitting in 2nd. The depth isn’t there, that’s not in question, defensive reinforcements are needed, the same as they were even at the start of the season but on what planet are Gamberini and Britos average?

    De Sanctis is the Italy reserve keeper and has saved the team on many an occasion, dodgy defenders have made him look bad consistently – one of which is now gone, ciao Toto. De Sanctis is a god compared to the likes of Rosati, who should be binned immediately.

    Stick to writing about Roma…

  3. De Sanctis says:

    Enzo, did you watch the match against Roma, How did De Sanctis perform?

    What happened to his ‘obvious decline in abilities’?