The Outlook of A New Project

By: Neil | October 12th, 2009

When a football team’s dictator – wait, that should read owner – fires the director of sport on live TV, says he’s going to fire the manger and does so a week later, you can call it the end of a project. The first cycle of Napoli’s renaissance has officially come to an end shortly into its 6th season. There’s two ways of looking at the last 5+ years. You can say that the team climbed from Serie C1 into a UEFA Cup place, and it was a huge success. But then there’s the question: if it was so successful, why did the owner need to replace the entire management team? I think in the day to day world of professional calcio, the direction a team is going is always more important than past achievements. And in that light, a new project was absolutely necessary.

It’s difficult to anaylze where the new project is going. First, the management team isn’t completely in place yet. Second, new d.s. Riccardo Bigon is a lawyer with little or no history in calcio. Yes, his father Alberto Bigon lead Napoli to a scudetto in the Maradona era. But that’s no guarantee that his son is going to follow in his footsteps. Just like Donadoni, Bigon could be a raccomandato – a person who gets awarded positions because of his name rather than his experience. It also remains to be seen who gets to work with Bigon as technical director. I’m hoping that De Laurentiis brings in an experienced football man, someone who can identify talent and value players according to their market worth.

One of the certainties – for the short term at least – is new manager Walter Mazzarri. The ex Reggina and Samp manager has a repuatation as a good motivator, something that Donadoni was missing in his brief stint as Napoli manager.

ITALY SOCCER NAPOLI COACH

Mazzarri has already spoken of the emotion needed to succeed in calcio.

“I want to see everyone celebrate good news and everyone suffer when it’s time to grit our teeth. That is the only way to build a team. And if we lose, it is only me who is to blame.”

This kind of thinking was completely absent from Donadoni’s analysis of the team and its problems. Of course, bringing a more emotional atmosphere to the dressing room and pitch isn’t the only requirement for long term success. The team was united and in good spirits under Reja for the first season and a third in Serie A, but all that vanished as other teams adapted on field to Napoli’s approach.

Mazzarri knows there is more to do than to boost morale, and reports indicate he’ll use a 3-4-3 system similar to the one Gasperini has in place at Genoa. In the most notable adjustment, Hamsik will be moved up to the forward line to play with Quags and Lavezzi.

Possible Napoli lineup:

De Sanctis
Campagnaro – Cannavaro – Contini
Maggio – Gargano – Cigarini – Aronica
Lavezzi – Quagliarella – Hamsik

But Mazzarri knows there’s a lot more to a tactical system than simply putting it in place. Again, that was an area which Donadoni neglected. Once he settled on the 3-5-2, he made few adjustments with both personnel and the duties of each position. Mazzarri’s new approach is fresh and should be entertaining to watch:

“It is not a tactical system that makes the difference, but rather how you apply it. I want the lads to play with a fast tempo, intensity and the right timing

From a personnel standpoint, there are rumours that Napoli is going to upgrade the left side of the field in the January mercato. The ususal names have come up – De Ceglie and Molinaro – but this time there’s a difference: the team has a manager who knows the type of player he wants in each position. For every new player that Mazzarri gets, I have the impression that he’s going to integrate them into the team according to their strengths. In terms of the on field performance, the short term looks very good. Mazzarri has a clear vision of what he wants to see, and he has a deep squad to make use of. I’m predicting that Napoli’s results will start to improve immediately.

For the long term it depends on how well the team of DeLa, Bigon, and the technical director can work together. De Laurentiis, after seeing millions of dollars get wasted on risky transfers, has spoken about upgrading the youth infrastructure. If you look at many successful teams in Europe – Man United, Barcelona, Arsenal and others – they’ve done a great job of bringing in good young players that came up through the academy and didn’t cost a fortune. I’d rather see the President invest a bit of money in the youth sector instead of spending big money buying established players who might not be a good fit for the starting eleven.

For the goal of playing consistently in Europe, it will take at least one more year of making adjustments before we can qualify. In my humble opinion there’s been too much instability this season to mount a serious run at a Europa league place. If Mazzarri works his magic Napoli might come close, but even for that to happen most of the roster will have to rediscover their top form. The good news is that there’s still lots of time, and if the new management team acts smartly in the January window it could be an exciting second half of the season for Napoli fans.

Until then, it’s one week at a time starting with Bologna at home. Let’s hope the team can show improvements and the Mazzarri era – and the new cycle – can begin with a triumphant win. Forza Napoli!