Somewhere here there’s a lesson

For the second consecutive year, Napoli has bowed out of the Coppa Italia at the Round of 16 phase. In both cases they’ve lost to a subpar side who has struggled and will most likely become cannon fodder for their next opponent.

Last year Napoli lost at this phase of the competition to Serie A side Parma. Not the Claudio Ranieri-Giuseppe Rossi heroic Parma. But the can’t get out of their own way, in danger of relegation in October, Stephen Fiore-led Parma. Despite the fact Napoli was in Serie B at the time, we had a rock-solid backline, Genarro Iezzo playing out of his mind and we were able to rattle off 1-0 victories like Liverpool in the Champions League. Our esteemed coach, decided to play almost his entire reserve side in the return leg at Parma, despite the fact we had a 1 goal advantage and had kept Parma from scoring a crucial road goal. The result was a predictable 3-1 loss and we were “free to concentrate on the league.” Yipee! Color me unimpressed.

It seems this time, Reja made his lineup mistakes all in the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico. Reja decided on starting Ruben Maldonado, after he’s only played a total of two matches all year long and he’s played bad. I mean bad like you look at him and you’re sure there’s some kind of joke at play here…bad like you wonder why is Enzo the truck driver playing center back kind of bad. If you didn’t catch the first leg of the Lazio match, you saw a Lazio side that, despite playing at home, looked listless and dull and like they’d rather be in bed sleeping.

Playing your primavera squad or emptying out your reserves for the Coppa Italia seems to be in fashion in Italy. Milan just went out of the competition playing Alberto Gilardino, Andrea Pirlo, Cafu and the reincarnated ghosts of Billy Costacurta, Marco Van Basten and a bunch of guys I’ve never seen before for God’s sake…and I watch a fair number of Milan matches. However, after watching Matteo Gianello spill at least four balls in the match, you’d think Reja would’ve perhaps seen that he’s just not up for the challenge. After claiming Napoli would have fire in their eyes and play this match like it was a Champions League night, Reja played Gianello once again.

Napoli’s second-string keeper played a decent match, and Reja put out a fairly decent side for today’s match, but it was too little, too late. In a home-and-away tie, you have to seize the day in the first fixture and then hang on for dear life in the second. Instead, we gave hope to a Lazio side that were close to firing their coach, in danger of getting relegated and have no funds or hope. What are we the freaking Salvation Army? We just gave Lazio some hope and another home date in the Coppa Italia quarter finals.

I hate you, Reja. I hate you, Reja. I hate….

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My apologies for not posting at all this week. I’ve been working upwards of 12 hours a day and have literally just come home from work and gone to bed. Things should slow down for me soon. 

Category: Coppa Italia

Tags: Coppa Italia

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