1st half review: Gli portieri

By: Joe | December 28th, 2007

Since Napoli won’t be back on the training ground until January 2nd and the transfer window won’t open until the 4th, I thought it might be a good time to review the first half of the Napoli’s 2007Serie A campaign. We’ll start our review with a look at Napoli’s keepers(portieri).

#1 Genaro Iezzo born June 8, 1973
acquired: beginning of 2005/06 campaign from Serie A side Cagliari
2007 appearances: 14 Serie A (20 goals allowed) 1.43GA/match; 1 Coppa Italia
(0 goals allowed)
Average Gazzetta score: 5.93
Joe’s grade: B-
Iezzo has been a revelation since Direttore Generale Pier Paolo Marino picked up the native Napoletano from Cagliari. Iezzo has been the starting keeper in Napoli’s successive promotion campaigns that saw the club come up from the depths of Serie C1 to Serie A. Iezzo wore the captain’s armband for much of the season last year after Montervino and Sosa played themselves out of a starting role. He saved at least two games last year with PK saves (he’s been 0-for-3 this year) and was generally a mean, tough, Napoletano bad-ass in the net. Iezzo played so out of his skin last year (0.64GA/match), I’d venture he may have been the best Italian keeper…all apologies to Gigi Buffon. Napoli’s defense did a good job closing down open spaces last year but Iezzo was seemingly called upon to make at least one or two remarkable saves permatch. He was always up to the task. I don’t believe there’s any way Napoli would’ve been promoted last year without Iezzo’s monumental contributions.

This year has been a different story for San Genarro. At times he’s played indecisively, particularly with controlling his backline. You just got the sense last year that Iezzo knew exactly what was the opposition was throwing at him and was able to direct his defenders more authoritatively. To be sure, there’s a tremendous gap in talent between Serie B and Serie A. However, Iezzo is not without Serie A experience and Napoli had been counting on his 19 professional seasons to guide the defense. Iezzo has had some nightmarish performances (the five goal trashing in Bergamo against Atalanta for one) mixed in with some fairly decent outings. However, even in his three clean sheets this season, he was only called upon to make 9 saves. Iezzo’s future with Napoli will depend exclusively on how he performs the rest of the season. If he continues to have lapses in concentration and doesn’t perform near to the standard he set with the Azzurri in two previous years, look for Marino to find another option. The most troubling aspect for me concerning Iezzo is that he hasn’t carried this team on his shoulders to a victory yet this season, something we’ve grown accustomed to in his time with the Azzurri.

#22 Matteo Gianello born May 7, 1976
acquired: beginning of 2004/05 campaign from Serie C2 side Cisco Roma
2007 appearances: 3 Serie A (2 goals allowed) 0.67GA/match; 3 Coppa Italia
(4 goals allowed) 1.33GA/match
Average Gazzetta score: 5.67
Joe’s grade: B

Gianello’s assessment must be made within the context of his role as a backup keeper. Barring injury, a 2nd string keeper is likely to only make a handful of starts and play in some cup games. To that extent, the 31-year Gianello has done a great job both this year and last. When Iezzo went down with a calf injury earlier this year, Gianello stepped up and put up consecutive clean sheets against Empoli and Livorno in his first Serie A action (he played with Sampdoria in 94/95 and Siena in 03/04 but never made it onto the pitch). Though neither squad managed much in the way of total shots (5), Gianello never showed any signs of nervousness and kept his backline in control. However, anyone who say Gianello’s performance in the first leg of the Round of 16 matchup against Lazio would question his ability. Gianello kept spilling rebounds and was eventually punished for it in our 2-1 loss.

Path forward: Marino must use the second half of the campaign to figure out if Iezzo is his man. Unless he makes some tremendous strides forward, Napoli should look to a young star like Marco Amelia from Livorno to guide the partenopei for the future. It isn’t Marino’s style to make such a radical change during the January calciomercato, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t make a big splash during the summer assuming Iezzo doesn’t step up.