Lecce vs. Napoli: Giornata 35

By: Neil | May 9th, 2009

This is an important game. Not because it’s against another southern team. Not because our winless streak on the road is so bad that I’d really like to forget about it. It’s important because Napoli gave a weak effort last Sunday and Lecce will be playing for their Serie A lives. Last time these teams met in December Napoli played one of their better games of the season and cruised to a 3-0 victory. Things have changed in the last five months, as Napoli’s season has fallen apart and both clubs have changed managers.

Back in March, one day before Reja was let go, Lecce replaced Mario Beretta with Gigi Di Canio, ironically a former Napoli manager. Beretta was in his first season at Lecce after replacing Giuseppe Papadopulo in the offseason. Papadopulo is now at Bologna, having replaced Mihajlovic who earlier in the season replaced the sacked Daniele Arrigoni. I find this yearly merry-go-round of coaching changes very amusing, and at the end of last season I sent my brother – not really a football fan – a list of the Serie A coaching changes, and he could not stop laughing. With Bologna, Torino, and Reggina all changing coaches twice this season, I may notify my brother again, especially since Reggina’s second manager, Giuseppe Pillon, lasted just over one month before they fired him and brought back Nevio Orlandi who was fired to make way for Pillon.

OK, back to Lecce now. Has the coaching change worked? Yes and no. No because Lecce are still in relegation trouble and may not make it. Yes, because the team is playing some of their best calcio of the year. Two weeks ago they defeated Catania 2-1 at home, and they followed that win with a 2-2 draw away to Juve last week. Prior to the Catania win they lost away to Roma 3-2, so they are making a huge push for la salvezza. The recent good form may have more to do with desperation rather than an improvement in tactics and strategy, but any way you look at it playing teams in a relegation battle at this time of year is not easy.

Lecce’s top scorer both last season and this season is Simone Tiribocchi. His eight goals this season are one fewer than the nine that Hamsik and Denis, Napoli’s top scorers. are stuck on. He’ll be joined in attack by the Ivorian Axel Cedric Konan. But other players are also chipping in goals in recent weeks. Jose Castillo scored the equalizer against Juve, Gianni Munari scored against both Roma and Catania, and backup striker Dmitrios Papadopoulos found the net against Roma. Midfielder Munari has a shoulder problem and will likely start on the bench. Other absences include Daniele Cacia, Vittorio Antunes, the Brazlian Angelo, and Papa Waigo.

Defensively Lecce have not been very good, but with their season on the line they should tighten up at the back.

Lecce probable lineup: Benussi – Polenghi, Fabiano, Esposito, Ariatti – Giacomazzi, Edinho, Vives, Caserta – Konan, Tiribocchi

Napoli is still without Lavezzi, whose suitors include Liverpool and Bayern Munich. Realistically I can’t see him going to either of these teams, but the rumours are fun to discuss. Pia and Denis are almost guaranteed 90 minutes each up front – I can’t imagine Zalayeta playing for Napoli again – so they should play a relaxed game, knowing that one error will not bring about a substitution. Vitale is back from injury, but takes a seat on the bench.

Napoli probably lineup: Navarro – Santacroce, Cannavaro, Contini – Montervino, Blasi, Amodio, Hamsik, Mannini – Denis, Pia

Here are the highlights from the 3-0 match at the San Paolo last December. Watching this video is a bit nostalgic for me: at that time Napoli was still flying high, and the run of bad form would start the following week with a dismal 1-0 loss to Torino. It’s hard to believe Hamsik has only scored twice since then.

Even though Napoli isn’t in danger of being relegated, I’m expecting a relegation type battle in this game. I guarantee Donadoni will not put up with the kind of effort Napoli showed last week two weeks in a row. Napoli have to come out fighting. Lecce are currently second from bottom, two points away from Torino in the safety zone. Lecce arguably don’t need a win, but with games left against Fiorentina and Genoa this might be a good chance to make a big move.

Catch the game on a live internet stream at rojadirecta.org or atdhe.net. Forza Napoli, and I’ll be back afterwards with a recap and highlights.