It should come as no surprise Gennaro Gattuso’s first match in charge of Napoli looked a lot like many other of the club’s recent performances.
The former AC Milan coach had only three full days to work with his new team and so it made sense he would send out a line-up nearly identical to the one that recently beat Genk in the Champions League. The only change was captain Lorenzo Insigne replacing Dries Mertens in attack.
Those that question Carlo Ancelotti’s dismissal often point to the fact that, statistically at least, Napoli have actually been playing pretty well this season, or certainly better than a now-eighth place standing in Serie A would suggest.
In that sense, Saturday’s showing can be seen as a microcosm of the entire campaign so far – both goals for the visitors came from headshaking defensive errors.
First, when Kalidou Koulibaly failed to deal with a seemingly innocuous forward ball, and the second when Piotr Zielinski simply lost his footing, which enabled the final, fatal Parma counter attack.
In between these two incidents, the home side were dominant in possession – finishing with over 70 percent – and attempted a total of 33 shots, well above its season average of 19.5 coming into the match.
Yet, once again, it was Napoli’s inability to convert those opportunities that ultimately proved to be their undoing, as chance after chance sailed high or wide of Luigi Sepe’s goal.
This is clearly Gattuso’s mandate. To turn a team that has become synonymous with stylish, attacking, but not always effective play into something concrete and consistent.
PROBLEMS IN THE BOX
When watching Napoli this season more often than not you’ll see a team largely in control of the match, but sorely lacking any incisive presence in the opponent’s penalty area. Too often they have been peripheral and settled for shots from outside the penalty area rather than trying to penetrate.
Coming into the weekend, the Partenopei trailed only Atalanta in shot attempts per match. However that number is inflated because they shoot so often from beyond the 18-yard line, averaging 8.9 attempts per game, over a full shot more than the next club.
When it comes to attempts from inside the box, Napoli sit in fifth position, much closer to their actual standing in the Serie A table.
This trend continued Saturday. In defeat, Napoli became only the third team in the last 15 years in Serie A to register 33 attempts and still lose the match. Though this is largely thanks to the 20 shots that came from distance.
Gattuso should take some solace from is his side managing 13 attempts from within the area, bettering their season average of 10.6, but still served to further highlight the real underlying problem in Naples – the absence of a player who needs not a dozen, but merely half a chance to put the ball in the net.
SUPER SWEDE STRIKES AGAIN
It’s easy to point to defensive mishaps as shaping the narrative of Saturday’s match, but nothing should be taken away from Parma and especially Dejan Kulusevski whose stock continues to soar by the day.
The 19-year-old attacker scored the game’s first goal after his pressure led to the Koulibaly mistake and he then set up Gervinho’s winner in stoppage time.
The goal was the Swede’s fourth of the season, making him the youngest player in Europe’s top five leagues with more than three this campaign. Perhaps even more impressive, the assist was his sixth this term, good for second most in Serie A behind only Lazio’s Luis Alberto.
It will be very interesting to see what happens this January as Kulusevski, who is on loan from Atalanta until June, has already drawn interest from several of Europe’s big fish. And rightfully so.
