Napoli-Torino

The good sister of Turin come to the Stadio San Paolo in the closing match before the winter break. Torino coach, Walter Novellino, will have to watch from the stands after getting ejected from last week’s match against Roma. The Italian draw specialists have had a disappointing
campaign thus far as they sit two points away from the drop zone in 14th place. The Granata are certainly capable of playing better than their record indicates as in the last week they drew against Roma in the league, in a match they really should have won handily, and again beat the giallorossi in a Coppa Italia round of 16 match.

Injury and suspension trouble abound for Torino this week as their captain Gianluca Comotto (DF) and Salvatore Lanna (DF) are out suspended while fullbacks Marco Motta and Matteo Rubin are out injured. Torino’s makeshift back line should provide Napoli some opportunities at goal. We’ll see if the good or the bad Marcelo Zalayeta shows up. On his day, Zalayeta
has shown he can score with two keepers in the net. The problem, of course, is that when he’s off, “El Panteron” is prone to give up possession and not threaten the keeper with his wild attempts at goal.

Torino’s record number of draws are the tipping point for the squad. A few wins or losses either way and they’d either be buried at the bottom of the table or hovering in the middle of Serie A. In either case, the side haven’t lit Serie A on fire under Novellino who left Sampdoria for Torino during the summer. The return of David Di Michele from suspension has yet to spark the Granata and their overall lack of goals, particularly on the road where they’ve only scored six in eight matches, is a bit of a mystery. Torino have a lot of attacking options in Di Michele, Nicola Ventola, Alessandro Rosinaldo and El Cino, Alvaro Recoba. In fact, Torino rank only behind Reggina (9), Empoli and Cagliari (12) in total goals scored (14). Their ability to close
down in defense has kept this side afloat this year. Whether they’ll be able to maintain that discipline with the players they have out will determine the outcome of the match.

It should be interesting to see if Recoba plays on Sunday. There were rumours all during the summer transfer market that El Cino was coming to Napoli. Recoba scored two goals in the Coppa Italia match and has shown flashes of brilliance this season. However, his relationship with Novellino hasn’t been the wonderful reunion they all had hoped. Novellino coached Recoba at Venezia where he was loaned out for a half a season. It was probably the last time Recoba has consistently looked like a world class player.

Meanwhile, Napoli are in need of some good will going into the winter break. They’ve played consecutive sub-par matches where a little daring and a little more creative a lineup could have easily netted the side consecutive victories. Instead Napoli drew with Siena in the league and lost the first match in the Round of 16 match against a worn and battered Lazio.
If I ever see Francesco Montervino and his clumsy feet and horrible tackling in a Napoli shirt again I’m going to put my foot through the TV. Reja’s lineups and substitution pattern have been maddening ever since he came to Napoli. The man is loyal to a fault with his old warhorses, doesn’t recognize crap when he sees it and his shunning of Emmanuele Caliao in favor of Roberto Sosa….well, it’s become a bit much for me to take.

No TV or internet streaming through SerieA.tv again due to our President not agreeing to sell the rights to the home matches. You can hear a radio stream by going to
www.radiomarte.it come game time.

Forza Napoli!

Category: match previews

Tags: match preview, match previews

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