A Missed Opportunity

By: Neil | May 10th, 2009

Lecce 1 Napoli 1
This game is a symbol of Donadoni’s time so far. Napoli was a little better than under Reja, but the team just couldn’t find that something extra and settled for a draw. I think the game was there for the taking in the first half. After Pia’s goal Lecce continued to leave all kinds of space at the back, but Napoli didn’t have a killer instinct and Lecce got back in the game with one of those handball penalites that I don’t like being called. A draw was a fair result, as I don’t think either team deserved to win, but in the last fifteen minutes Lecce gave it all they had and put Napoli under a lot of pressure.

The way Lecce played in the last fifteen minutes was how I was expecting them to play all game, but they only found that extra motivation as time was coming to a stop. I’m really hoping they’ll stay up, but based on this game I don’t think they’re going to do it. Their defence was terrible in the first half, and you just can’t defend like that and expect to stay in Serie A. You could say Napoli was lucky that Lecce didn’t score at the end, but Lecce was very lucky Napoli didn’t put the game away well before that.

With the season coming to a close Don used an experimental lineup, notable for the absence of Hamsik and Santacroce:

Navarro
Cannavaro, Contini, Aronica
Bogliacino
Mannini, Pazienza, Datolo, Vitale
Denis, Pia

Last week the heart of our midfield – mostly Hamsik and Amodio – was missing and this week the midfield was much more solid. But I don’t like the idea of a skill player like Bogliacino in the role of holding midfielder. Some players like Pirlo and Xabi Alonso are great from that position, but they don’t do very much defending. Teams like Napoli that defend more than Milan or Liverpool should use a player like Gargano who can tackle and distribute short passes. Amodio is that type of player, but from watching him the last two weeks I don’t think he’s very good. Having a “deep lying playmaker” like Pirlo only works if the playmaker is really good and others around him do the defending.

Next topic: the penalty decision. When a player’s hand makes contact with the ball, it’s sometimes very difficult to determine whether its hand to ball or ball to hand. The play that got Lecce a penalty was clearly ball to hand, and for me there should have been no penalty. On the other side of the argument, it could be argued that if ball to hand prevents a scoring chance, a penalty should be given. I think in these circumstances, a penalty should only be given when it’s a crystal clear, high quality scoring chance. A good example of this was in the Champions League semi final between Chelsea and Barcelona. The Pique handball was ball to hand, but it prevented a great scoring chance and for me it was a penalty. I would not call the Lecce shot that hit Mannini’s arm a great scoring chance. If it hadn’t hit Mannini’s arm there was still a crowd of players plus Navarro before the shot would have reached the goal, if it was even on net. However, it’s very easy for me to analyze the play after watching the slow motion replay several times. On the field, in the heat of the battle, you have to give the ref some grace.

Here are the highlights:

I don’t have much else to say about this game. I was planning on doing a report card, but because of some distant camera shots and a slightly fuzzy picture I couldn’t alway tell who was doing what. When I first started this blog I usually gave a link with le pagelle but for some reason I stopped that. Here are this week’s pagelle and I promise I’ll include the link every week even if I do my own report card.

Only three games left in the season: Torino (H), Catania (A) and Chievo (H). The homes games look very interesting as both Torino and Chievo could be playing for three points to stay in Serie A. Torino are currently safe, just one point ahead of Bologna, so they might play for a draw. But Chievo will probably need a win on the last day of the season to stay up.

I’m going to do the usual midweek update, but it could be a quiet week and it might be a quick update. If I get some time, I’m also planning on doing a general blog about Serie A, the Champions League, and whatever else comes to mind.