Melting like a Neapolitan ice-cream left in the sun?
As the 2019/20 season curtain drew the faithful inside a packed San Paolo roared in defiance to those who said they wouldn’t that they couldn’t. The Neapolitans were in a three-way fight for their first Scudetto since 1990 and their team were leading Lazio 2-0 with 12 minutes left of the season. However, those roars turned to whimpers as news of former player Manolo Gabbiadini’s freekick put Sampdoria ahead in their game. The eerie silence would remain, as the crowd on tenterhooks, saw their team yet again, finishing second in Serie A. The crowd, however, would roar back to life upon the confirmation of the league standings, showing as a city the proud nature of Naples. The crowd echoed the hopes and feelings of all Napoli fans, that they would be back, and next time, there would be no stopping them.
As the 2020/21 season drew to a close the fans in the world famous San Paolo were treated to 7 goals, 5 for their home team to end the season on a run of 3 wins from 3 and a season high league finish. However, unlike the heartbreak and defiance of last season, the mood in the stadium was one of, indifference and apathy. Nothing more than a token gesture from those in the Curva. How had such passionate fans turned to such a meek display in just over 12 months? Well, a season spent in the bottom half of Serie A with a league high position of 9th, two high profile managers, with said managers came the high expectations which were not achieved and the sale(s) of some club icons, would test the patience of many fans.
Insigne > Milik and Benzema
Arguably, Napoli’s greatest mistake in the transfer window came in the summer, with the failure to replace Insigne, the elite winger had been vital last season and the Partenopei, in their need to replace him attempted, what in retrospect, was a bizarre tactical switch.
The current icon of the San Paolo, the Neapolitan boy, Lorenzo Insigne had played 279 times in the league and netted 77 Serie A goals in total. In the 2019/20 season alone he scored 16 and created a further 6 assists. A goal scoring tally which would have tied him for third in the league this season and joint 17th for assists. With an impressive 1.85 dribbles per match, the elite winger also would have comfortably finished inside the top 10 in this field this season. To make matters even worse, he scored 12 goals and created 12 assists for a 4th placed Manchester United side, with a staggering 3.22 dribbles per game this season. Similar performances, would have provided Napoli with an extra 2 goal involvements vs his output last season and vastly superior ball progression.
Therefore, having seen their starting LW departing for the tropical Mancunian climate, you would have expected experienced and world class manager Carlo Ancelotti to have a masterstroke up his sleeve. When the club signed former French International Karim Benzema, the local media were optimistic that the experienced striker could provide support and goals in a different way, but similar output to Insigne. The fans were abuzz with theories of Ancelotti resorting to his classic 4-4-2 or 4-4-2 Diamond (which now en vogue having won Sampdoria a title, was deployed devastatingly by Ancelotti whilst at Milan). The fans therefore, having pondered, a Benzema and Milik strike force supported by a midfield supported by Fabian, Diawara and Zielinksi were surprised at the 4-2-3-1 formation deployed and more so with the Polish Striker starting out wide on the left wing.
This formation and set up persisted through Ancelotti’s 17 league games, the side severely blunted up front due to Benezemas more supporting nature and the guile of a natural left winger (albeit an Inside forward) replaced by a traditional striker out wide. Milik, it has to be said, is not technically poor but ill fitted to a traditional wide berth for a supposed title challenging side.
The Solution?
Emil Forsberg was signed from the riches of China’s Guangzhou Evergrande to the streets of Napoli by newly appointed Roberto Mancini. The wide-forward had impressed greatly at RB Leipzig for many years prior to his controversial move to the Chinese Super-League. Now 29, it was time to see how well the Swedish international could perform back in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues.
It may surprise you to know that he performed similarly to Insigne in 2019/20, although in a smaller sample size (17 matches vs Insignes 37). Emil scored 4 goals and assisted 3 with a DPG of 1.58 vs Insignes 16 goals, 6 assists and 1.85 DPG. Whilst Insignes stats remain more impressive it is worth noting the similarities, also, in comparing the players this season it shows that both have similar SOT% 35 vs 38% and passes completed 87% vs 72% (Forsberg vs Insigne). It is also worth remembering the almost £30million transfer fee difference between the two 29 year olds and therefore Insignes greater output should be expected, but it shows that Forsberg allowed for an adequate short term replacement. Which, had he started the season, could have made a difference for Napoli and avoided their bottom half slog.
As mentioned above the Polish striker was frequently deployed by Ancelotti on the left wing, however, in the previous season he had been a deadly central striker with 15 league goals and 3 assists. Having always shown brief moments of quality before unfortunately suffering injury, last season was seen as a possible breakthrough year for the Polish international in Naples. Therefore, when the rumours emerged of a deal for Karim Benzema surfaced, the Neapolitan’s reached for reasons as to why such a large transfer fee was being spent in an area already strengthened with the loan arrival of Mariano from Real Madrid.
The local papers and many influential twitter pundits had believed that Ancelotti may be returning to “his roots” and moving to either a 4-4-2 or 4-4-2 diamond. Particularly, due to Ancelotti’s success at AC Milan with such a tactic and its re-emergence with Sampdoria deploying it, to great effect. A partnership between the more physical Milik or Mariano, coupled with the running and willing creativity of Benzema was thought as a potential modernisation of the Inzaghi and Shevchenko partnership. With the predatory poaching of Inzaghi limited in the modern game, a forward willing to drop deep and create whilst pressing from the front, was thought to be a potential plan.
However, this was not the case, as mentioned previously Ancelotti continued with his 4-2-3-1 deploying Benzema chiefly as the loan striker, and was rewarded with a total of 6 Serie A goals and 3 assists for a potential £33 million pounds.
Milik, having been the spearhead of a Napoli side that finished Champions League runners up 2018/19 (let’s not forget) and the Serie A 2nd place was pushed wide left to replace the departed Insigne. Thus began his fall from grace, continuing to get regular gametime but to little effect, the Polish international struggled for Napoli this season, with a total of 6 goals and 4 assists. Struggling to perform in his wide left position, his lack of confidence, evident when given a chance as the central striker. This was enough to result in Mancini regularly dropping him from the side in favour of both Mariano and Benzema, until, as usual Milik picked up a 6 week injury and finished Napoli’s disappointing campaign on the treatment table, with rumours of his imminent transfer listing.
Romero vs Koulibaly
To expect a 23 year old Argentine playing his first season in Italy to match the output of one of the worlds highest rated centre backs playing in a league he knew and with his long term team would be unfair. I, for one, am not going to be taking that standpoint, instead using Koulibaly as the lofty measuring stick he is, I hope to show why the signing and performance of Romero should fill the San Paolo faithful with hope.
The 23-year-old Romero was signed for a maximum fee of <£11 million, with the 29-year-old Koulibaly leaving for a princely £64 million. The Argentine has impressed in an underwhelming team throughout this year, having succeeded with 89% of his tackles, 93 interceptions and making 0 mistakes leading to opponents goals in 3,135 minutes on the pitch. In comparison, Koulibaly has succeeded with 93% of his tackles, 116 interceptions and has also made 0 mistakes leading to goals. So, clearly, Romero isn’t matching the highs of Koulibaly, however, the promise is there. The performances of Koulibaly have progressed since his 2014 transfer to Napoli and are now reaching his current world-class levels and Romero is showing fantastic signs of being able to step into his boots at the heart of Napoli’s defence for the next few years.
So it is clear that Napoli have a building job ahead of them, with many ageing stars like Raul Albiol and Dries Mertens setting their sights on retirement, there will have to be a solid rebuild carried out on the squad. The squad containing players such as Callejon and Benzema over 33 and Forsberg reaching 30 in the next calendar year the remaining players have a wealth of experience, but, Christian Romero is the youngest player to have played over 800 minutes in all competitions suggesting a lack of faith in the younger prospects at the club. The last transfer window included the positive purchase of Forsberg, but it also included spending £18 million on Sergi Samper (who has played 187 minutes since joining). The next two transfer windows could be vital for the future success of the Partenopei, will they once again rise to challenge for domestic and European titles or return to a previous life of mid-table mediocrity?
About the author
Sonia Costantini was born in Córdoba Argentina in 1993, her family moved to her fathers native Florence in 1995. Sonia attended her first Fiorentina match in 1997 (aged 4) and thus began her love affair with football. By the age of 5, she had become, self-described, a Gabigol girl. A fanatic to the Argentine forward Gabriel Batistuta and an ardent supporter of La Viola throughout her childhood and teenage years. A move to the USA at 18 on a soccer scholarship to Duke University was next for Sonia, however, upon graduating with her degree in Journalism she decided to take up the pen rather than to the field. Since then in her journalism career, she has covered a range of areas but has specialised in reporting of Italian Football over the past few seasons.
About the publication
“A Slice of Cheese” The Fanzine was started in 2015 by two Australian brothers, initially covering the A-League in a free online format. The name was taken from the humorous viral video of some Australian commentary, which quickly became part of the football vocabulary. It quickly expanded and became a hit over the following years, allowing many talented writers to write topically and personally about football in Australia.
Having garnered that initial success, the free fanzine opened a Patreon with the aim of expanding to cover other leagues and allow access to more sportswriters. The Patreon quickly reached its target allowing the largely amateur outfit to pay a writing staff and produce more content. However, the most exciting time in the ‘zines publication was yet to come. Two sizeable donations from anonymous benefactors known only as “Pinturicchio” & “Bobo” were given to the publication, with the condition that they also include Italian football coverage.
With this move to a more international market, it was decided that a re-branding was required. The “Slice of cheese” name would continue for their A-League coverage, however, the company would become what is now known as “The Diamond” (a nod to the fact if you rotate a square cheese slice it becomes a diamond shape). The Italian branch of the online fanzine would go by “The Fantasista” (the traditional name given to a creative number 10, often deployed in a diamond formation).
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