When Maurizio Sarri tookover at Napoli in the summer, taking the reigns from Rafa Benitez, it seemed like Napoli would be in for yet another rebuilding project. One can not ignore the fantastic job Walter Mazzarri did at Napoli, qualifying for the Champions League in 2010/11, only to be knocked out by eventual winners Chelsea. In the 2012/13 season, Napoli finished second, nine points behind Juventus. Mazzarri had done the rebuild, and for the 2013/14 season it was time for a manager with a proven pedigree to come in and take the reigns. Enter Rafa Benitez, who prior to Napoli endured a torrid stint with Inter Milan as he tried to follow up the Jose Mourinho show at the Giuseppe Meazza.
Perhaps Napoli were the beneficiaries of a weak Serie A, but they were also victims of a fantastic Juventus side, led by Antonio Conte. Who swept all before them and won every Scudetto from the 2011/12 season up until right now. The Benitez era didn’t exactly go to plan, reloaded with some of the finest talent from around Europe, funded of course by the sales of Edinson Cavani and Ezequil Lavezzi, but also some clever financing from Aurelio De Laurentiis.
Napoli never took that next step, finishing third in Benitez’s first season in charge, a mind boggling twenty four points behind Juventus. In Benitez’s second and final season, Napoli failed to even qualify for the Champions League, finishing (by their recent standards) a shambolic fifth, losing on the final matchday to Stefano Pioli’s Lazio. The team had actually gone backwards, a team that was once of the most exciting in Europe and look poised to go toe to toe with Juventus for a few Scudettos in the mid 10’s, had gone backwards.
Enter Maurizio Sarri
From the view of an outsider, leading Empoli to a 15th place finish last season is probably not that impressive. But under the microscope everyone in Italy could see Empoli were punching well above their weight, it was automatically assumed they would go straight back down to Serie B. But Sarri, a former banker now turned manager, is somewhat of an innovator, considering Empoli’s stature, installed a belief and philosophy within Empoli, and everyone in Italy took notice. Even Silvio Berlusconi, but De Laurentiis pounced first and secured Sarri’s signature.
But this didn’t feel like the Benitez era, but neither was it like the Mazzarri era. Napoli were stuck in a quite strange purgatory, not quite contending but not quite rebuilding. The fanbase in Naples have grown high expectations of their side, so simply qualifying for the Champions League every season doesn’t quite seem enough to satisfy a fan base that last won a Scudetto in 1990. Even in 2015, as Napoli hosted table toppers Fiorentina, flags of El Diego could be seen being waved through the Neapolitan crowd, it’s clear the hearts of Neapolitans are still occupied by Maradona, a new hero still hasn’t emerged in the south west of Naples.
That could all change this season.
Timing is everything in football.
In case you’ve been living under a rock since late August, Juventus are pretty bad at playing football this season. They currently reside in 14th place, one point behind AC Milan, yeah, literally behind AC Milan. Whenever there’s a Serie A season, Juventus are more than likely going to be favourites. But not this season. The Bianconeri already have a nine point deficit to cover up with Fiorentina topping the table, and other Scudetto hopefuls such as Roma and Inter, who have an eight point lead, and then there’s Napoli, who have six point lead on Juventus.
Is it all over for The Old Lady? Not at all. Considering Juventus won their past four Scudettos by an average margin of 11.75 points, the deficit can easily be erased. But something feels off about this Juventus team this year, whether it’s the weak midfield, the doubts creeping in regarding Allegri’s ability as a manager, or the fact that Carlos Tevez isn’t rescuing Juventus out of holes anymore, something is definitely off.
But hey, this is great in terms of the parity in Serie A, which is desperately needed in order for a league to be healthy. Plus, it’s more interesting for you and I.
The other candidates
This rejuvenated La Viola side have been an exquisite addition to Serie A this season, after hiring Paulo Sousa in the summer, a man whose best managerial achievement thus far was winning the Swiss Super League with Basel, it was a bold move from Fiorentina after sacking Vincenzo Montella. As football fans we should all be hoping Fiorentina’s success is sustainable (it probably isn’t), as we’ve seen Borja Valero and Marcos Alonso have fairytale rises to become an elite midfielder and left back, respectively. And of course, there’s the surprising clinical play of one Nikola Kalinic, the former Blackburn Rovers strike found refuge in Ukraine, playing for Dnipro and scoring 37 goals in 86 goals, and this summer arrived at the Stadio Artemio Franchi looking to try his luck in the big leagues again.
I was all in on Roma’s 2013-14 season, honestly I was. I was an adopted Romanisti for those nine months as Rudi Garcia injected some French magic into what had become a rather stale team. The Giallorossi sat atop of the table from match day four until match day thirteen, after then Juventus never released their stranglehold on first place, and ended up winning the league with a record 102 points, 17 ahead of Roma. I simply cannot trust this Roma side anymore, but they’ll be near the top come the end of the season.
As for Inter Milan, who currently reside in third, I think this team is still one or two transfer windows away from contending. This isn’t a prediction article but a Champions League place isn’t out of the question for the Nerazzurri this season, but in terms of the holy grail, Mancini is still building this team up.
Napoli have their deficiencies, sure. They’re still adjusting to Sarri as a manager, the defence looks a bit shaky too, as Raul Albiol is seemingly never going to become the top tier defender they thought they were buying back in 2013. The defence has largely been bailed out by the attack, whom have scored the second most goals in Serie A, with 18, and of course, the electrifying form of one Lorenzo Insigne. Plus, it’s not like Napoli don’t have a history of eventual disappointment.
I got a good feeling about this, Scoob.
But something feels different this year, after marquee wins, such as thrashing Milan 4-0 at the San Siro and Lazio 5-0 at the San Paolo stadium, it wasn’t just an embarrassing scoreline, it was total domination. Sure Milan aren’t what they once were, but to go to the San Siro and total demolish any kind of AC Milan side still sends a message to the rest of the league. The same logic applies to Napoli’s 2-1 win over Juventus, sure, this is not the Juventus we’re used to, but any win over Juventus is a marquee win. And of course, this past weekend Napoli were led past Fiorentina, thanks to another impeccable man of the match performance from Lorenzo Insigne. Not only did it prevent La Viola from extending their lead atop of the table, but it means Napoli have an impressive Résumé of four marquee wins already.
Of course, Napoli have a historical tendency to slip up vs the smaller teams, something which is inexcusable for all aspiring Scudetto winners. Draws to Carpi, Empoli and Sampdoria are games Napoli should quite easily be winning, except for perhaps Sampdoria. And then there’s Napoli’s opening day loss to Sassuolo. In a world of hot takes and instant reactions, it was assumed this would be a transition year for Napoli, and one that would result in Europa League football at best.
The rise of Insigne and co.
There are so many factors coming together ready for this Neapolitan fairytale, perhaps I’ll go more in depth later on. Lorenzo Insigne seems to be prepared to fulfill his potential after an ACL tear last year and become an elite winger in world football (six goals, three assists in eight games), Gonzalo Higuain is continuing his form as an elite striker, despite what reactionary opinions people have regarding his international form.
Seamless Hamsik
Napoli’s midfield finally looks ready to reach that top tier of Italian football, where Juventus and Roma have been with their exquisite midfields. Who would’ve thought Marek Hamsik’s transition to playing a deeper role under Sarri would be seamless (you can see his breathtaking pass for Insigne’s goal vs Fiorentina here)? In fact, it was just last year that it seemed the Slovakian was stagnating as he reached the prime of his career. He now looks reborn as a deep lying playmaker. The acquisition of Allan from Udinese is looking like the transfer of the summer already, offering Napoli a top tier box to box midfield that they’ve missed since the peak days of Gökhan Inler.
The bandaged achilles’ heel
Napoli’s defence has always been their achilles’ heel, ever since the Mazzarri days, but at least this season Napoli seem to have defensive studs rising up to sure up a shaky defence. Now in his season second, Kalidou Koulibaly’s early season form has him looking like a defender worthy of playing for a top Serie A side, a dear shame the same cannot be said for Raul Albiol. After jumping ship with Sarri in the summer, Elseid Hysaj looks to have finally given Napoli a long term replacement for Roberto Maggio, and is finally adding secruity to that right back spot.
There’s a lot of things that are going right for Napoli right now, it even looks like it could be the perfect storm in which Napoli and Aurelio De Laurentiis finally capture that elusive Scudetto. There’s still a long way to go, though, but this is setting up to be Napoli’s best chance they’ve ever had, and perhaps will ever have. Good luck.
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