Jesus is on his way to Napoli

By: Neil | January 28th, 2009

This post was originally going to be a preview of the Fiorentina game, but Napoli finally made a move in the January mercato. According to PierPaolo Marino, there is a verbal agreement for Boca Juniors left winger Jesus Datolo to move to the San Paolo. And aren’t we in need of some divine help?
The 24 year old Argentine made a name for himself at Banfield before moving to Boca in 2006. Now for around 7 million euros he’s Napoli newest player that will somehow be compared to Maradona.

Marino has scouted the player for a while now, and describes Datolo as a versatile player who can take free kicks and penalties. I haven’t heard of Datolo until just now so I can’t really comment on what he could bring. Hopefully there are some Napoli fans who follow the Argentine league and can give us an unofficial scouting report.

Datolo was brought over because there are a number of issues with Mannini on the left-wing. First of all, Mannini could face a ban of up to 2 years for showing up late to a doping test while playing with Brescia. The club is expecting a suspension, and there needs to be competition for Vitale in the left wingback position. But even if Mannini gets a short ban or no ban at all, Datolo has an attacking aspect to his game that Mannini is missing. Playing on his off wing Mannini struggled to get crosses in, and had to cut into the middle to be in position for a shot on net. Datolo gives Reja a different option down the left, and his ability to take penalties also takes some pressure of off Hamsik. And if Datolo works out as an attacking midfielder, it makes the club less dependent on Hamsik.

As for the Fiorentina game, Hamsik, Gargano, and Contini are all supsended. And it looks like Santacroce could be dropped for his errors in the Roma game. So our projected three man backline is Cannavaro, Rinaudo, and Aronica. Plus Iezzo still isn’t recovered so we’re going with number three Gianello in net again. This game will be a huge test of our defensive depth. It’s an issue we’ve struggled with all season, but sometimes when bench players know there’s nobody waiting to replace them it gives them more confidence.

In midfield Pazienza will replace Gargano, and I’m really stretching the term ‘replace’ here. It’s more likely that Pazienza will be a pale shadow of Gargano. Bogliacino comes in for Hamsik, and look for Zalayeta to retain his starting spot up front.

Napoli probably lineup: Gianello – Cannavaro, Rinaudo, Aronica – Maggio, Blasi, Pazienza, Bogliacino, Mannini – Zalayeta, Lavezzi

Fiorentina has a number of injury problems, most notably Adrian Mutu. Also missing are Kuzmanovic and Jorgensen. As the Channel 4 preview notes, since Mutu was injured Fiorentina haven’t scored a goal in more than two games. When I look at the Serie A scoring chart and I see Gilardino in third place with 12 goals – but none since Mutu’s injury – it really shows the value of the Romanian player to Cesare Prandelli’s side.

Last season Fiorentina won this fixture 1-0 thanks to a Christian Vieri goal. Here are the highlights from that game, which I think was played back in 2007.

With a home game against Udinese next weekend, I would be happy if Napoli could grab a point from this game. I don’t care if the team plays good, bad, or ugly, as long as we can leave with the score even. Given the number of key absences, and the fact that our road form is terrible, I’m not optimistic about this game.

Key question for Fiorentina: Can their offence finally get going against a weakened Napoli defence?

Key question for Napoli: Can the Partenopei play consistently well for the entire 90+ minutes?

I am having trouble finding an internet feed for this game, so if anyone can help out it will be much appreciated.

Forza Napoli! And if we lose, Jesus will no doubt come and save us.