Napoli 1 vs. Catania 0

By: Neil | January 12th, 2009

I don’t have too much to say about this game. Napoli dominated possession and territory, but couldn’t generate any good scoring chances until Hamsik’s penalty was saved. With ten minutes left, a 0-0 draw seemed likely when Maggio tapped in a Lavezzi pass to give Napoli the victory. Three points is three points, but the Vesuviani were far from convincing. And even though Catania managed to keep a clean sheet for 80 minutes they weren’t all that great either. Napoli should have been able to cruise to victory with at least three goals by the time the first one went in.

Here are the highlights. Extended highlights were available, but I don’t think this game had more than four minutes of good action.

The direction of Napoli’s season is still up in the air. We somehow managed to return to the last Champions League spot thanks to Fiorentina’s shock home loss to Lecce, but there are a number of teams right behind us within striking distance. The next three games – away to Chievo, home to Roma, and away to Fiorentina – will be a litmus test for Napoli’s ambitions. Two of the three are road games, and two of the three are against direct rivals for a CL spot. Since we can’t win games on the road – our last road win was back in October – and we can only squeak by Catania at home, the prospects don’t look great. Contrast Napoli’s win with Genoa’s. Despite missing Milito, the Ligurians impressively swept aside Torino, a team that defeated Napoli in the previous round of games. Genoa have a deep squad and a strong manager, and are poised to continue their excellent form. With Napoli I only have confidence in our home games, and winning every second week probably won’t be enough to hold on to fourth.

Man of the match could go to Maggio or Gargano, but I’m going to give it to Rinaudo. Although Napoli’s defence wasn’t troubled too often, the Sicilian was alert, well-positioned, and strong on the ball. He did a great job leading Napoli’s backline, and I wish he had played like that back in the first half of the season.

The latest transfer rumours have Napoli looking at Parma midfielder McDonald Mariga, who is valued at about seven million Euros. Mariga plays the same role as Blasi, and it looks like Napoli are trying to get a younger and more athletic player at that position. Napoli have apparently reached an agreement with Polonia Warsaw for central defender Tomasz Jodlowiec to arrive in the summer, but this sounds like the kind of false story that keeps coming up.

In a recent interview, De Laurentiis said the club is looking for a striker and a midfielder. Clearly he wasn’t too impressed with the Catania game either, and Napoli’s offence looked stagnated for the second straight game. Our only strategy is bringing the ball up the flanks, and then trying to pick out a player with a hopeful cross. Those kind of goals always look nice, but long crosses are actually a low percentage play. In other words, for every one that works there are going to be many that fail. It took Napoli 80 minutes of crosses to break down Catania, and we need to start creating better quality chances.

Next up is away to last place Chievo. If we can’t win that one, then expect DeLa to start making huge changes.