One half is enough for the Azzurri to return to the top of the standings.
A first half full of head and determination.
A bad, hungry Napoli that closes Monza in their own metafield. The advantage comes from a play by Politano who escapes the Lombard defenders, who give him a playable ball which the Italian winger puts between Turati’s legs. Napoli attacks and Monza makes a mistake, the ball is recovered by Anguissa who triggers McTominay, the Scot tries but the deflected ball reaches Kvara who beats Turati again for a double advantage.
The second half is less beautiful with Monza taking the field a bit and Napoli tightening their shirts by playing 5 in defense with Politano practically a defender. Conte wants the best from his team but perhaps he could make the changes a little earlier, giving brilliance to the team which suffered in the second half from the play of Maldini, Pessina and Bondo.
Nothing dangerous but Monza faces towards the blue area. Conte changes Kvara then Lukaku and Politano.
Neres tries at the end with the ball shaving the post. Victory built with determination and desire in a beautiful first half that gives Napoli the top of the table thanks to that malice that was so lacking last year.
Chiariello: “More than ball possession, Napoli bought cannibalism!”
During ‘Campania Sport’ on Canale 21, the journalist Umberto Chiariello commented on Napoli’s victory against Monza: “Sixth day and the championship is starting to get to the heart of things. It is clear that the transfer market closed on 30 August distorts the start , to the point that it is being hypothesized that next year we could close on August 15th, it would be desirable. Starting on August 30th some matches were played with incomplete teams and the following ones with players arriving at the last moment and therefore with the usual ones. insertion problems once the training camps are over and the championship is underway, the sixth match is starting to be the indicative one, the second ones are starting to run.
And the heavy teams, those who will fight for the top, have shown up. Inter won a difficult match in Udine, last season’s top scorer Lautaro Martinez, without goals in the first 5 matchdays, scores a double. Juve, also aided by the lack of fans, having to play behind closed doors after what happened in the Lanterna derby, won convincingly at Genoa where Inter had drawn. In five minutes Milan beat Lecce with three goals, at the moment they seem to be the team with the most wind in their sails, with a new formula they are doing very well. Let’s not forget Lazio, a team that I really like. Baroni found the double center forward formula with Dia behind Castellanos. Today he won in Turin in a convincing manner, perhaps he can include more than Roma who didn’t convince at all today. He found a lucky victory against Venezia, thanks to a deflected shot and a goal from the young Pisilli, a pupil of mine from Primavera. Of Napoli’s nine opponents, who finished tenth last year, only Torino lost.
Napoli had to respond. Was it a stress test? Napoli weren’t stressed at all. Eight minutes to get to grips with Monza, then he grabbed it by the throat and dominated the field. The Lobotka-Anguissa pair returned to very high levels even if McTominay had a bit of difficulty attacking the very closed defense of Monza, who defended with 9 men behind the line of the ball. Lukaku is still not very brilliant, but a very lively Politano was enough who literally broke through the opposing defense. And a dominant midfield, Napoli doubled their lead with Kvara and then put the match in the freezer. In the second half Conte made a radical change to the game system: he returned to the 3-4-2-1, letting Kvara out when he had to keep the situation down, demonstrating that he has two systems which he resorts to depending on the moment of the match.
There are two aspects to highlight: Napoli after the defeat of Verona who will fight not to be relegated and where Kvara and above all Buongiorno were missing. Once Buongiorno came in and the distances between departments and the game organization were sorted out, Napoli conceded only one goal in five games, even a doubtful penalty, against Parma. We haven’t conceded a goal in three games. But what matters most and what a coach looks at with most interest is not so much the goals conceded or not but the expected goals, that is, how many scoring actions did Napoli concede in these matches? If at the beginning it took the best Meret in blue until the injury to patch things up, between Torino and Monza he conceded zero or almost zero shots on goal. Napoli not only don’t concede goals, but they don’t concede scoring opportunities to their opponents. And he is also cynical, because today he didn’t produce 6-7 scoring opportunities, but the few right ones to break down the opponent. A determined, concentrated, bad Naples, tailored to their coach. If you want Napoli who dribble for 60-70% of ball possession, the beauty of the plays, you have the remote control: go to the Premier League and see more. Or if you are nostalgic, watch Sarri and Spalletti’s matches. If you want to stay today enjoy the
Napoli first in the standings, which is a team that has bought something that is an intangible asset but which is worth much more than ball possession, phrasing and beauty. It’s called cannibalism.”