Chievo vs. Napoli mini preview

By: Neil | January 17th, 2009

About one month ago Napoli went to Torino and deservedly lost to a club in the relegation zone. On Sunday the team gets a chance to redeem their road problems when they travel to Verona to play last place Chievo.

Like Torino, Chievo have already changed coaches this season, replacing Beppe Iachini with Mimmo Di Carlo. But the Flyinig Donkeys are lighter on talent than Torino, and will need to pull off a miracle similar to Cagliari’s last season to avoid the drop.

The club is led by captain Sergio Pellissier, who has been with Chievo since they were an unknown Serie B team in 2000. He is also one of the few professional footballers from Val d’Aosta, which makes him somewhat unique.

Also in attack the Flying Donkey have a couple of on loan players, Antonio Langella from Udinese and Mauro Esposito from Roma. There’s the Brazilian Kerlon, who achieved quite a bit of fame for his seal dribbling abilities. But despite have good forward on paper, Chievo have struggled scoring and are last in Serie A with just 10 goals scored. I think stats like these prove that goal scoring is very much a team process, and if there isn’t the right kind of build up play then even the best strikers will struggle to find goals.

On defence the Flying Donkeys will be without two starters: Andrea Mantovani is suspended, and Davide Mandelli is injured. Normally this would be a huge problem, but Napoli’s offence is struggling and in the last two rounds Catania and Torino limited the Azzurri to just one goal
despite missing key defensive players. I’m hoping Napoli can find their scoring boots, and that this game will be the goal fest that last week’s game should have been.

Napoli have two injury concerns. Marcelo Zalayeta is still injured, and Daniele Mannini is not quite 100% although he could come off the bench. Acutally I’m just reading that Iezzo and Santacroce are also injured. It looks like Gianello will start in net, and Rinaudo will keep his place in defence. Three players – Aronica, Gargano and Vitale – are all one caution away from being suspended.

If anyone thinks the Azzurri are looking past this game to the home match against Roma next weekend, guess again. As Matteo Contini says, this game will be treated like a final. To be honest, I think the players are starting to become embarrassed about the team’s road performances. There’s nothing like a bit of embarrassment to bring out your best.

Chievo possible lineup: Sorrentino – Moro, Morero, Yepes, Scardina – Luciano, Italiano, Marcolini, Bentivoglio – Pellissier, Esposito

Napoli possible lineup: Gianello – Cannavaro, Rinaudo, Contini – Maggio, Blasi, Gargano, Hamsik, Vitale – Lavezzi, Denis