Napoli-Catania (Guh.)

By: Joe | April 7th, 2008

The end of the season can’t come quickly enough at this rate. Napoli continued their dismal road showing by getting outclassed and outhustled by a squad in a fight for their relegation lives. Walter Zenga had his Sicilian side motivated on Sunday afternoon against what appeared to be an out-of-sorts Napoli squad.

It is a cruel bit of irony that Napoli supporters outside of Italy can only view their squad on the road. A look at Napoli’s road record would make you think the side was a sure bet for relegation. Sunday’s 3-0 defeat in Catania means the partenopei has only managed 10 points from 16 road matches while getting outscored 32 to 19 . (Tied for 2nd most road goals allowed).

Napoli wore their all whites for the second time this season and I’m going to stop wishing they’d break out their white kits if they’re going to play this badly. Napoli was without Emmanuele Blasi who sought fit to see him suspended for the 83rd time this season. Last I checked Blasi was tied for the league “lead” in yellows and he’s given no indication he wants to give up his crown. Napoli’s midfield play this season has been atrocious without Blasi’s leadership and calmness on the ball. However, at this stage of the season having only one player out (Zalayeta’s injury notwithstanding) is a luxury most teams cannot claim. A Serie A side should not be so dependent upon a single player and depth at the defensive midfielder’s position must be addressed this summer.

Catania had a dream start at home under former New England Revolution/Inter Milan keeper, Walter Zenga. Zenga was one of the first keepers I can remember to wear a baseball hat and somehow I’ve always managed to hold a private grudge against him for doing so. In the 4th minute, Midfielder Giuseppe Colucci took a free kick a few yards from the corner flag and bounced, not drilled, not smacked, not smoked, but bounced twice in the box before getting past Mario Gianello’s near post. Napoli had no one guarding the near post and Maurizio Domizzi either continued his sleepwalking this year as he didn’t pounce on the ball or there was a miscommunication between he and Gianello. Either way, Catania were off or running and Napoli were forced to chase the game on the road. Things weren’t looking good and I hadn’t yet even drained my first cup of espresso.

Napoli would try to push up and started looking dangerous…well, Lavezzi started looking dangerous, when Catania hit on the counter-attack as Mark Edusei floated a great ball into Genarro Sardo that turned Mirko Savini around, not once but twice, and Sardo slotted a ball past a hapless Paolo Cannavaro and onto the path of Gionatha Spinesi who had the easiest of tap-ins to put Catania ahead and kill off the match…in the 16th minute. This match was completely over by the 16th minute and it was time to start making the excuses and looking ahead to Atalanta. At that point, Catania were happy to put 10 men behind the ball and absorb the pressure. The game meant much more to them than to the Azzurri.

There was simply no debating the dreadful play of Napoli for most of this match. Catania should be commended as they played a controlled game and took advantage of their opponents critical errors. While we had the lions share of the statistical advantage (61% possession, 16-7 shot advantage, and double the # of corners), Napoli rarely looked capable of scoring. All too often Ezequiel Lavezzi was often alone trying to take on multiple defenders. Now whether or not this was due to selfishness or lack of faith in his teammates, I can’t tell. Reja tried switching to a 4-3-3 moving Daniele Mannini on the left with Lavezzi on the right and Roberto Sosa in the middle. The attack seemed none too sharper and the few chances (two Sosa headers) in the first half went begging.

Any doubts were eliminated in the 2nd minute of the second half when again Napoli’s defense fell asleep on a set play. Edusei floated a corner which bounced to the far post and, shockingly, no one was within 5 yards of the ball. Rumored Napoli target, defender Juan Vargas, tried to hit the ball on the volley and only managed to graze it. All the while Mirko Savini is thinking about how nice it’ll be next year to play with Ascoli instead of closing down an opponent in his own box. The amount of space afforded Vargas allowed him to follow up his miskick and he drilled the ball past a defenseless Gianello. 3-0 Catania and I was thinking this would be another beating like we took in Bergamo against Atalanta.
While Napoli had some decent opportunities in the second half, the match was hopeless and the only consolation, not a small one at that, was Palermo beating Juventus. The Rubentus loss brings a smile to my face even if it does nothing to improve our position in the table.

This Jekyll and Hyde of a team now return home next Sunday against Atalanta looking to avenge their 5-0 ass-kicking from earlier this season. While the remaining matches will neither vault Napoli to EUFA Cup spot nor land us in Serie B next year, they should be used as an exercise to blood some new players and recruit a dynamic coach for next season. It’s likely neither will happen and Atalanta will kill us again. Seeing as how this season has gone down, nothing should be surprising.