A dirty victory in Empoli, seven days ago: 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Kvaratskhelia. Al Maradonawith Lecce, same result and we could believe in another narrow success, short-sighted as Allegri would say. But don’t tell Antonio Conte: “Dirty matches are different, this has nothing to do with it. This is a match against a closed team, we cleaned it and the opponents dirtied it. You need to have patience and quality without suffering a counterattack It was a dirty match in Empoli.” Al Maradona no and, looking at the statistics, the Salento coach is right: the 1-0, with Di Lorenzo’s decisive goal, is deserved for total shots, shots on target, possession and xG. “We dominated them from start to finish,” Conte continues to corroborate his thesis.
There is something similar to the Empoli match: a Lukaku who doesn’t turn, worse on the pitch in our report cards, in which we reward Di Lorenzo instead (obviously), but in general the whole defense. Yes, because Napoli’s strength right now lies in the defensive phase and there is a fact that proves this: Napoli, in fact, have kept a clean sheet in five of the last six championship matches. The incredible thing is that before, to do five clean sheets, it took him 34 races.
On the other hand, Luca Gotti, after his poor showing at home against Fiorentina, can at least be satisfied with the reaction of his Lecce, who at the Maradona it certainly doesn’t look bad, with Banda the best on the pitch.