Lazio 0 Napoli 1: The Aftermath

By: Neil | October 27th, 2008

First, here are the highlights of Sunday’s game.

Now everyone is expecting us to compete for the Champions League. Pierpaolo Marino thinks it’s still too early:
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=934771
Lavezzi of course is talking about the Champions League:
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=933369
And De Laurentiis is talking about buying new players in January:
http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=26773
But Marino doesn’t want any:
http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=26812
And Reja is happy with our defence:
http://www.transfermarketweb.com/?action=read&idsel=26781

And to top it all off, the goalkeeping soap opera has continued. Gianello has apparently lost the number two spot to Navarro, who played great against Lazio. With Iezzo injured again, the number two spot is number one for the time being. Now Navarro wants to stay in Napoli because he is no longer number three, while Gianello has reportedly asked for a transfer because he’s now number three and since he can’t really compete for the number one job he has no future here. I don’t really care who plays Wednesday against Reggina, but I’d like to see Navarro against AC Milan. Gianello showed some weaknesses against both Benfica and Genoa, and if Navarro can keep playing like he did against Lazio he’s a better option.

At this point I have no idea who is going to be playing against Reggina. Hopefully Reja will rest most of our starters for the posticipo against Milan next Sunday, but I’m starting to wonder if our attack depends too much on Lavezzi. Last season we struggled against the smaller clubs even with our starters, so if we sit key players then where is our offence going to come from? A lot of our offence relies on a few players, and if we’re going to rest Lavezzi, Hamsik, Maggio, and others I’m worried it’s going to be a repeat of the Bologna game where we struggled to beat a team we should have dominated.

For me the league is shaping up into clear divisions:

Competing for Scudetto: Inter, AC Milan
Competing for Champions League: Napoli, Udinese, Juventus, Fiorentina
Competing for Champions League or Europa League: Lazio, Genoa, Roma
Competing for Europa League: Palermo, Catania, Atalanta

Of course, as Marino said, it’s not until January and early February that teams start to make moves and really push for position. It will be interesting to see how the teams are positioned in February. Will Napoli and Udinese still be near the top? Will Roma pick it up? How good are Genoa? It’s great that Serie A is finally exciting again after some shaky years.

See you next time with a preview of the Reggina game. Forza Napoli!