Entertainment at the Azzurri d’Italia

By: Neil | November 16th, 2008

If there are any positives from Napoli’s 3-1 defeat to Atalanta, it’s that our main rivals for the last Champions League spot - Lazio, Fiorentina, and Udinese - all lost as well. Napoli was outplayed, Zalayeta was foolishly sent off, and Reja made some funny substitutions. When Manfredini’s 89th minute free kick took a slight deflection to beat Iezzo, the Bergamaschi got the three points they thoroughly deserved. Although Napoli lost, I enjoyed all the twists and turns the second half offered.

Here are the extended highlights of what was a hard fought and exciting game. For anyone who thinks that Lavezzi is a diver, look closely at the replay - his foot pushes the ball away a fraction of a second before Manfredini comes in. Great call by the ref, who had a clear view of the play.

While we’re on the subject of dives, the non penalty on Valdes was also the right call. Valdes went fishing for the penalty, and very cleverly simulated a foul by dragging his foot into the defender’s leg instead of taking the easy path to the ball. The issue on these plays isn’t whether or not there is contact, but who initiated the contact, and how natural it was. Again, a great call by the ref who is probably going to be criticized by the Atalanta fans for his penalty decisions.

I was able to watch the whole game on a fuzzy stream, and for the second straight week Napoli wasn’t as sharp as earlier in the season. Reja noticed it as well, and I’m wondering if the team is starting to tire, if not physically then psychologically. We’ve played a lot of minutes with ten men - all four our our red cards have come early, and even when we don’t get a player sent off we use an up tempo style that requires all players to be alert and moving. Once you factor in the number of big games thus far, including the Intertoto Cup, the team has put on an incredible show the last four months. How much longer can it last? The schedule gets easier until the winter break, but Napoli will find that other teams are hitting their stride just as Napoli is wearing a bit.

But back to the game. After Zalayeta was dismissed for his second stupid foul of the game - Napoli’s fourth red card in twelve league games - Reja took out a defender, Santacroce, and replaced him with Pia, an attacker. At the time Napoli was down 1-0, and needed to press for an equalizer. But when there are only three defenders, why go down to two? And why Santacroce, our best defender? When Napoli did get the equalizer it didn’t really vindicate Reja’s decision, because Atalanta were still a man up at home and playing against a two man defence. Sure enough, Reja does the exact opposite of his previous sub and takes off Hamsik, an attacking player, for Rinaudo, a defender. If we were planning on shoring up the defence anyways, why not just leave Santacroce in there and take out Vitale or Blasi for Pia? Games like this really expose Reja’s tactical ignorance.

I don’t have le pagelle for this week because the stream I was watching wasn’t very clear and it’s not like any Napoli player played well individually. In fact, too many players had below average games: Zalayeta, Vitale, Contini, Blasi. Man of the match for me was Ferreira Pinto, whose great individual goal put Napoli behind the eight ball, and it came when Napoli still had eleven men. Coppola also played well, and his save on Zalayeta in the first half was crucial.

It’s back to the drawing board for the Partenopei. Vitale was completely outplayed by Ferreira Pinto, and it might be time to recall Mannini for the starting left wingback. Also, Contini’s weaknesses were exposed today, and we need a defender who can do a better job of making outlet passes to start the attack. Teams are also starting to shut down Maggio on the right, and Blasi is starting to lose his form a little bit. Fourth place is a great position, but it’s going to be tough to hold on with so much competition.

Questions for discussion: Does Napoli look a bit tired? Does Reja need to come up with some new ideas as teams figure out how we attack? What kind of striker do we need to replace Zalayeta??