Napoli 2 vs 1 Cesena

By: ciro | January 14th, 2012

A sharp looking in form Goran Pandev came on and dug Napoli out of a hole in the second half of their Coppa Italia match against a spirited Cesena side on Thursday. New signing Eduardo Vargas made his debut and there was also a return to action for Miguel Britos and Marco Donadel after lenghty layoffs.

All eyes were on Napoli’s new signing Eduardo Vargas whose 45 minute first half cameo was notable for his mistake that lead to Cesena’s opener and lesser so for gettin in the way of a Cavani half chance that looked to be travelling goalwards. So not the debut we and mainly the media had been waiting for. I thought Vargas looked good, his movement was sharp and he made plenty of intelligent runs, not his fault that Zuniga on the right couldn’t find his feet with his passes. It was the team’s lack of penetrating final balls and through passes that made it seem that the kid had a bad game and after going a goal down Napoli reverted to the bad habit of swinging cross after cross into the box, not the type of service that Vargas needed. Mazzari it seems asked the boy to track back and get move involved in the defensive side of the game and it backfired for that was how his mistake costed Napoli a goal. It seemed to me that Vargas should have been nowhere near that posistion on the pitch, he wasn’t needed there and it was not as if Napoli had been under pressure from Cesena and needed every one to come back and defend. With Cavani always ready to come back and help out with his defensive duties Vargas should have played more central and pushed right up into the oppositions half not being asked to track back and do too much on his first appearance by Mazzari. Once he learns the system and beefs up a little bit i’m sure we will see the player he is touted to be. One thing that bothered me though and that is that while holding up his hand and admitting it was his fault for playing Vargas when he wasn’t ready, Mazzari showed a lack of confidence in the player and instead of pinning blame or pointing the finger he should of just said he was proud of his performance and is waiting to unleash his true potential, You know the usual soundbites that manager spout when protecting their young players. Anyway that is only a minor annoyance, my major problem is that i thought Pandev shoulda have started, he’s in great form and needs to start every match while Lavezzi is out. He proved his worth in the first five minutes of the second half when he came on for Vargas. Napoli had been playing the clueless, guileless play it down the wing, cross it into the box to no-one tactic that Mazzari seems to love before Pandev’s introduction and in one quick back heel movement he woke the crowd, played Hamsik through and set the tone for Napoli’s come back with some inventiveness and direct play through the middle. Both Napoli goals coming from Pandev free kicks, the first spilt by the Cesena keeper into the path of Cavani who finished cooly and the second a cheeky little curler into the front post where he saw the keeper out of position. The Cesena Players complained that the ball hadn’t crossed the line but replays showed that when the ball hit the keeper’s chest the keeper was a good foot over the line. Napoli have been lacking a potent free kick for years and in one match we got two.

ROSATI= 6 I thought the keeper looked a bit shaky and coulda have done better for the goal. He also did’nt have a good command of his area as there was a couple of times when he came to claim a ball over the defender but either didnt hear a call or didnt get one and the defender cleared the ball from out of Rosati’s hands.
FERNANDEZ= 7 Federico is going to be a beast of a defender, slowly growing more assured in the back line and got forward at any opportunity, not quite Hugo Boss yet but getting there.
CANNAVARO=7 The Captain played his usual game, calm with the ball and strong into the tackle.
BRITOS 7= Britos first game was very encouraging, he kept it simple and won nearly every header he went up for. I didn’t have to worry about any brain farts happening on the left hand side while watching this game, could it just be coincidence that Aronica was rested?
INLER 6.5= Not too involved in the game, some sloppy passes and played himself into trouble once in the Napoli box which against anyone other than Bogdani coulda have lead to a goal.
DZEMAILI=7 I thought this was the best i seen from Dzemaili in a Napoli shirt, ran and ran and burst through the Cesena defence on a couple occassions. Made some nice tackles and played some good football.
DOSSENA=6.5 Andrea needs to pick it up a little, his crosses let him down and he needs to be sharper on the ball.
ZUNIGA =6 Slows the ball down too much. Has great feet and can dribble but his decisions and awareness needs to be looked at. Could have played Hamsik in, but chose to loft the ball onto his head instead on playing it on the ground in front of him to run onto.
HAMSIK= 6.5 Another pretty quiet night from Marek, the first half cross fest didnt suit his gameplay, shone brighter in the second half with Pandev.
CAVANI =7 Finished his goal well, came deeper to receive the ball. Made some stunning cross field passes.
VARGAS=6 Made the runs but never received the ball, would have liked to see him alongside Pandev.

MAGGIO=6.5 Wasn’t as sharp as usual when he came on but still made a difference on the right with his speed and drive.
DONADEL= 6.5 Looked decent in his 20 minute cameo, played the ball to feet, made a great tackle to steal the ball and then went on a run that beat two players before being brought down. If his fitness improves then we can expect good performances from him.
PANDEV= 8 Man of the match and game winner, looks up for a fight for his place and a new contract from someone.