And Napoli’s Problem Is…

By: Neil | April 22nd, 2009

“We are missing a bit of a clinical edge in front of goal and our opponents always seem to punish us at the first opportunity.” This was Donadoni’s verdict after the Cagliari game and it perfectly sums up Napoli’s season. Even when Napoli was playing great football at the beginning of the year, it was down to being more clinical in front of goal than our opponents. Of course, since mid-November the trend started to reverse with our oppnents becoming goal sharks and Napoli missing the killer instict.

I like the way Don phrased the team’s problems. Reja would always bemoan about bad luck around both goals, but Don has identified something beyond luck in analyzing the team. Curiously, there is already speculation that if Donadoni does not improve results soon, De Laurentiis might fire him and recall Reja. I’m almost always against recalling fired managers. First, it doesn’t look good when a team brings back someone they thought wasn’t up to the job. It demonstrates both impulsive decision making and short-term thinking. Second, there was a reason why Reja was fired in the first place. What makes DeLa think that Reja has improved in the two months he’s been out of work?

Based on the results so far, it’s conceivable that Donadoni just isn’t the right fit for Napoli’s project. If things don’t turn around, I’d really like to see a Conte or Ferrara – or any young up and coming manager – take over and be given a chance. To be honest, I have no idea what kind of roster Donadoni will have to work with next season. I have a feeling that after getting hired he had a series of converstaions with Marino and DeLa to inform them of players he’d like in the mercato. From the rumours flying around it seems like he wants expensive and established players – Grosso, Floccari, and Borriello are good examples – and the response from DeLa was something like “I’ve already spent a small fortune on players, so if you want the spending to continue you have to get results that will see Napoli competing for a Champions League spot.” Well, so far Don’s results, over the course of a season, will get us relegated. We all know he’s not that bad a manager, but if he wants the club to spend money he’ll have to get results that justify the spending.

Napoli’s most recent target is apparently Julio Cruz. Since Cruz’s contract is expiring he would be available on a free, and if his wages are low enough I’m not against this kind of move. Financially it would be low risk, and if he can stay fit he still has a couple of good years left. Having said that, Cruz would not be a long term solution. Ideally we should get two young target men and play Lavezzi as a trequartista. I still don’t see Lavezzi as a striker. He has created lots of goals this season, but most of the great stuff he does for the team can be done from a midfield spot.

Another Napoli target, Siena’s Camilo Zuniga, will apparently cost around 7m euros. Zuniga’s a good player, but that’s an awful lot of money for someone with just one Serie A season. I would have liked adding Zuniga for 3m or 4m, but for more than that we should just fork over more money and pick up a player like D’Agostino. Whether or not D’Agostino is serious about playing for Napoli is another question, but he’s playing well enough to attract interest from a lot of clubs.

Finally, Napoli is playing Inter next Sunday in the posticipo. Inter will be pulling out all the stops on Wednesday as they try to comeback from a 3-0 deficit in their Coppa Italia semi-final against Sampdoria. I’m really hoping Inter wins because if they’re knocked out of the Coppa, their only target left will be clinching Serie A. I’d rather get a tired Inter team that’s on a hangover after a thrilling Coppa Italia comeback.