Napoli-Atalanta Game Review: 2-0, La Vendetta!!!

By: fortunato | April 13th, 2008

With the haunting reminder of the 5-1 thrashing suffered at the hands of Atalanta last December 2 in Bergamo, the Partenopei were looking for revenge in today’s ‘ritorno’ match at the San Paolo in front of an estimated 40,000 plus spectators. Napoli was coming off of a stinker of a game against Catania but this team has shown time and time again they are a Jekyll and Hyde out fit- a confident, talented and organized team at the San Paolo and a relegation worthy team away from home. The game was previewed as a match between two very evenly matched teams, battling for the eighth/ninth spots since the teams entered the match with Atalanta sitting with 41 points in 9th place and Napoli sat in tenth place with 40 points.

Napoli was missing backliner Fabiano Santacroce but Atalanta was missing striker Cristiano Doni (suspension) and also regulars Antonio Langella, Zlatan Muslimovic and Claudio Rivalta due to injury. As a means of maximizing his club’s energy and motivation for the 33rd day of Serie A football, Mister Reja announced that Gennaro Iezzo would return to the lineup after missing the last three months with a knee injury. It was hoped that this news along with the revenge factor from last December’s memories would motivate our boys to convince all their fans that last week’s Sicilian style beating and Napoletano embarrassment in Catania was a fluke.

Whatever was said or done, it worked wonders because Napoli came out flying in the first half, playing a high energy, great ball control game as was evidenced with a great first minute rush. Mannini, showed a high tempo, skillful rush, was finished off by a weak Blasi shot (what a difference our midfield makes with Blasi in the lineup). Right after, in the third minute Manini again showed great playmaking skills, threaded a pass that was a little too far for a mid field streaking Hamsik but like a bolt of lightning, Lavezzi flew past three Atalanta defenders took the ball and got off a decent shot, at an awkward angle, but Atalanta keeper Ferdinando Coppola stayed low, cut the angle and swatted the ball away.

In the 8th minute, Iezzo was tested by a shot about 30 meters out by Atalanta midfielder Fernando Tissone that required the keeper to dive far to his right to stop a rather well struck and strategically placed ball. No problem!!!

Within the first 10 minutes, it was becoming obvious that Napoli was serious about this game and that the Catania horror show of a week ago was a thing of the past. Reja’s boys had come to play!!! Napoli exuded great ball handling and passing skills and generated most of all the offensive chances in the first half but the Partenopei for as well as they were playing, Atalanta keeper Coppola was up to the challenge. To the Azzurri’s credit, their midfield play was excellent in the first half and their defense had done a great job on minimizing the impact of talented Atalanta striker Sergio Floccari.

Our boys came out even more fired up for the second half as Reja immediately subbed out Blasi for Pazienza, maybe as a means of protecting Manuele from himself. If you haven’t noticed, Manuele has developed this bad habit of racking up yellow cards, usually in the second half possibly to compensate for fatigue. Good move Edoardo!

In the 49th minute, the Azzurri really started to pour it on as Gargano took a nice pass from the backline and fired a powerful and accurate shot about 30 meters out which was stopped by Coppola but the rebound came right back out to Mannini who immediately closed in on the Atalanta goal and attempted a cross for an open Hamsik but Coppola dove head long and knocked the attempted cross out of harm’s way. In the 58th minute, Reja substituted a rather ineffective Calaio with Sosa with the hope of firing up the Argentine chemistry with Lavezzi to get us over the hump!!

In the 61st minute, Gargano found a streaking Lavezzi along the left side, in behind the Atalanta defense but Coppola beat the Argentine on the one on one. One minute later, Sosa took a feed from the midfield in the Atalanta penalty area, flicked the ball to Lavezzi who sent a laser shot Coppola’s way that was miraculously stopped but the rebound came all the way out along the left side and found a streaking Hamsik who buried it into an open cage. Unbelievably, Coppola almost got to this shot as well!!

Napoli put the game away two minutes later as Sosa, outside of the Atalanta penalty area sent a wonderful cross through the box to Lavezzi, who got tangled with Atalanta defenders Bellini and Manfredini and in doing so, the ball was directed towards Coppola by a hand that appeared to be Bellini’s so initially the goal appeared to be an “auto goal” but later was credited to Lavezzi. Napoli 2 Atalanta 0!!!! (After the game Atalanta coach Del Neri was still lamenting this goal as a hand goal likening it to a lay-up in basketball and commented on its crippling impact- a real back breaker).

This appeared to be the best game that our Partenopei have played since the Fiorentina game and probably one of their top three games throughout this season. This team was focused and hungry. Their passes were crisp and they were clicking on all cylinders as it really appeared that Atalanta was not even worthy to be on the same field as them today. Why can they be so good and so bad at the same time? Although a lot of the inconsistency has to do with the immaturity of the team and possibly at the fault of our beloved coach but consider the following list as (major or minor) contributing factors as to what makes the team tick on some days, and not on others:

-They perform differently if they have certain key players on the pitch, namely Blasi and Gargano and possibly Mannini. Hamsik looks awesome playing with Gargano and Blasi whereas Marek seems rather ordinary otherwise.

-When the midfield is kicking ass, like they were today, there is far less reliance on Cannavaro and Domizzi which obviously minimizes their exposure to defensive breakdowns.

-I eat my words when I say that Sosa coming off the bench seems to give his teammates a rather large emotional lift and it is evident that there is chemistry between Lavezzi and Sosa but very little between Lavezzi and Calaio.

-The team was uplifted today by the return of Iezzo despite the fact that no one can argue that Gianello has performed far better this year but San Gennaro was ‘the man’ last year and the number one reason the team was promoted. This has to count for something in the players psyche.

Although I am thrilled with the victory because I would love to finish ahead of Lazio (a 2007 Champions League participant), Palermo (a 2007 UEFA Cup qualifier), Atalanta (2006 Serie B champion) and Genoa (fellow promoted 2007 Serie A cousin), I am a frustrated fan. This team has proven that it can play against anyone, any time but not necessarily anywhere (see the crappy road record). They have sucked eggs against the crappy teams (Cagliari, Catania, Reggina etc) and just when you think they will fold up given a totally brutal performance the week prior, they stun you with a wonderful game, like they did today. What do think they’ll look like against Parma next week. I am saying they will disappoint given their pattern established thus far this year.

Still though, I am relishing this win as I hated Atalanta for the 5-1 Bergamo thrashing. Payback is a bitch, isn’t it??? FORZA NAPOLI!!!!