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Will he stay or will he go? Can you blame him for thinking like this…

El Matador - Coming to a Premier League ground soon?

When Edinson Cavani spoke after the 2-0 win over Novara he sent medium sized ripples through us Napoli supporters when he questioned his own future in Naples. We are not stupid, we know Cavani won’t be at Napoli forever and we know how much every team in Europe wants a striker of his ability but nobody has made a firm bid, more than likely put off by his high asking price.

The worry is this. Since the Aurellio De Laurentiis era started non of our big players have wanted to move. You could argue Fabio Quagliarella but he was was more or less forced out. Other players have tried to send feelers out via agents  (hello Mino Raiola) but these have quickly been battered away by the management. If Cavani’s comments are a smoking gun for a bigger issue then this may lower the Matador’s asking price and thus Napoli’s position maybe compromised as other clubs will know he wants to leave.

I personally feel that Cavani will stay if Napoli do finish third but it is likely that Napoli will not finish in the top three in Serie A and if I am honest a player of Cavani’s ability does not deserve to ‘grace’ the Europa League as will be likely if he stays, so it is up to De Laurentiis to do one of two things

1)      Persuade Cavani that his future does belong at Napoli as we make a push for the top three next season

or

2)      Sell him before he says anything more to dilute his value

An insight into whats inside Cavani’s mind came after the draw with Catania where he openly questioned the attitude of the team

‘We made so many mistakes and we lacked the desire to win……In football you need that kind of attitude, otherwise you cannot go anywhere’

If Cavani feels that about some of his team mates can you blame him for wanting to move away to somewhere that already has a winning mentality.

The other scenario is that he has seen Marek Hamsik get another new contract and rumors that Ezequiel Lavezzi could be getting a new deal also have surfaced so is this a way for Cavani to tell everyone ‘remember me’?

I am not so sure.

Cavani has ambition and he has the ability to grace the greatest of football pitches. If he truly wants to go then we should not stand in his way. He owes us nothing, just please let him go on good terms, unlike Quagliarella….

For the first time ever I found myself actually supporting the jeering of my side after an awful defeat. I am a staunch supporter of my side. I have supported my side through the good and more often the bad times. I always try to look for the positive in every performance, I have even praised Salvatore Aronica this season but on Wednesday something broke inside me. The 1-3 victory by Atalanta was a pitiful, shocking performance which marked the clubs third straight defeat in Serie A, the first time under Walter Mazzarri, but this defeat was unlike the previous two. This was bad, very very bad!

Getting beat by Juventus 3-0 is not nice but it is no shame to lose to Juventus in the current form. Being beat 3-1 by Lazio was a tough one to swallow as we deserved at least a draw and we were denied a clear penalty. But against Atalanta, for the very first time under Mazzarri I saw players that looked sorry for themselves and I saw a coach that looked broken.

The recent slump in form has been put down to tiredness and I personally do think that fatigue is a major factor at the moment. As a fan I feel drained of all emotions thanks to the inconsistent nature of our Serie A season coupled with the amazing Champions League and Coppa Italia runs. The players are tired, You can clearly see that in players such as Edinson Cavani, Walter Gargano and Hugo Campagnaro, but I then take a look at AC Milan who were so far off the pace against Chievo but still got a result and this showed me that its not all about being tired.

The problem is people like to blame one thing when something bad happens, people like a good scapegoat. It is very easy for those that do not watch Napoli on a regular basis to say for example the back three is not good enough or Mazzarri is clueless or that the team have an over reliance on a certain player. These irritations are symptoms of bigger problems for Napoli in Serie A.

I have tried to summarise these below

1) Tactial mistakes - The inability of Walter Mazzarri to find a Plan B has been exposed. This article by @rcammisola sums up my feelings better than I could, even in the last two games when we have played Blerim Dzemaili in the Christian Maggio role just so Mazzarri can stick to his 3-4-2-1 the coach has been made to look very silly.  Mazzarri should have moved to a 4-3-2-1/4-3-3 but did not. He claims to be an innovator but has not done so. The last two games were perfect for Mazzarri to show he can be flexible but he failed.

2) Errors made in the transfer market - Riccardo Bigon should rightly get credit for the signing of Edinson Cavani but this does not mean he should be immune from criticism. As much as I like Blerim Dzemaili I do not understand what more he has brought to the team that a player such as Hassan Yebda was already providing. We just needed to spend €2.2Mill to sign the Algerian who was a popular and fully integrated member of the squad and yet we send him back to Benfica and then spent nearly fours times as much on the Swiss international. The free signings of Mario Santana and Cristian Chavez have completely failed and do not get me started on Ignacio Fideleff. I am happy we have brought in Edu Vargas, but should we maybe have let him stay in Chile until the summer and kept Giuseppe Mascara until the end of the season? Wasted money on players in positions already covered and free transfers which have not paid off means Mazzarri has had his hands tied to a degree.

3) Injurys and suspension in key positions - The injury to Miguel Britos before the start of the season has meant Salvatore Aronica getting more game time then is comfortable with me. Marco Donadel has been missing all season which has meant Gokhan Inler and Walter Gargano have played more often than was planned. The real killer blow though has been the injury to Christian Maggio in the Champions League second leg at Chelsea. From that very moment the current dip in form started, Juan Zuniga getting sent off against Juventus and his subsequent suspension has meant for the last two games we have not played with a right sided wingback, so back to tactics….

Mazzarri’s inflexibility coupled with the some mistakes in the transfer market have meant some players have been playing too many games and when coupled with the injury of Christian Maggio and suspension of Juan Zuniga the problems have been amplified the past couple of weeks.

As well as those things mentioned above I think Aurellio De Laurentiis needs to look at the things he has done. He has given a lot of power to Mazzarri recently. It is rumoured that at least one of the players signed last summer was of a direct result of Mazzarri demanding that player and not accepting any alternative whatsoever, this was said to be one of the main issues which meant he almost left last year as the dangerous game of brinkmanship took place between the coach and the president. Director General Marco Fassone is rumoured to be leaving and Sporting Director Riccardo Bigon has not signed a new contract yet. Instability at the top is not helping build a positive picture of life at Napoli.

I have personally felt Napoli are best when De Laurentiis has a firm grip of things. He needs to sort out the issues at director level and give clear instructions of what he expects of Mazzarri and the team. Looking back at comments made at the start of season I have no idea what DeLa expected, top 5, top 3, ‘continued growth’. How can you define ‘continued growth’? Meh

I think Mazzarri has earned the right to fix the tactical issues he has and now must practice what he preaches. I think Riccardo Bigon is still young and learning his craft as a Sporting Director so I hope he learns from the errors he has made and I still think Aurellio De Laurentiis is a canny business man who has been a success from day one. If we can learn the lessons from this season then the future is bright, if not then De Laurentiis could get the scooter ready for a couple of unsuspecting passengers….

Its incredible to be a Napoli fan at the moment. We continue to confound people with the progress being made in the UEFA Champions League. Yes, we are only half time in the tie against Chelsea, but if someone had told me Napoli would be 3-1 up to go into the second leg of a last 16 tie I would have chewed your hand off, but something is bothering me..

The three tenors

I watch a lot of Napoli, too much in fact but I feel too much of the credit has been attributed to Napoli’s perceived preference for playing counter attacking football.

We can be in no doubt that Napoli look very exciting when the attacking players are in full flow, but the actual number of goals scored in the Champions League because of a quick transition of the ball is actually very low.

Napoli have played seven games in this years competition so far, scoring at least one goal in each game and 13 goals in total. The source of these goals is very surprising,

• Goals from build up play - 6
• Goals from set pieces (Penalties, corners) - 5
• Goals from counter attacks (a goal scored in an attack as a direct result of winning the ball from the opposition in a previous attack) - 1
• Own Goals - 1

My own eyes do not deceive me. I do not doubt that Napoli play counter attacking football, they play it very well but the above statistics prove that we are more than just a counter attacking side. Certainly in European games, the counter attack is Napoli’s biggest foyle. Teams are so scared by the way we counter that they forget how to defend against simple build up play. 

The other surprising statistic revolves around the number of goals conceded by Napoli in the competition. Seven games have been played and seven goals have been conceded, three of which were scored in one game by Bayern Munich. Napoli have played 24 games in Serie A and have conceded 24 goals. Napoli have the joint fourth best defence in Serie A along with Fiorentina, you would not guess that by the way Salvatore Aronica, Paolo Cannavaro and Hugo Campagnaro defended against Chelsea but the statistics do not lie. They are good honest pros who have played together for three years and know each other strengths and weaknesses inside out and they are backed up in goal by the more than able Morgan De Sanctis.

My point is this. Napoli are more than just a smash and grab team in European competition and Napoli can actually defend. If anything we are a contradiction. We play counter attacking football but most of our goals come from open play. We do not defend as well as we should yet we are no worse than in Serie A.

My own view of Napoli’s Champions League campaign is that Walter Mazzarri has produced a side which ‘laughs’ at you for not breaking down a back three of such ‘quality’, teases you by playing counter attacking football and punishes you for not doing the simple things right at the back. Long may it continue…

HAPPY NEW YEAR. Well, its been an awful long time time since i actually wrote anything, nearly three months infact. Instead of going through all that has happened since my last post (too much) so I thought I would look at the possible moves Napoli could/should make this transfer window.

At the end of December sporting director Riccardo Bigon finalised the singing of Eduardo Vargas from Universidad de Chile in a deal similar to that which brought Edinson Cavani to the club. At the conclusion of this deal Bigon said the market was now closed but president Aurellio De Laurentiis raised doubts about this when advising that the market is ‘permanently open’ if a bargain appears.

(Eduardo Vargas - the NEW Alexis Sanchez/Ezequiel Lavezzi/Jose Luis Calderon, delete as appropriate. Picture - Sport)

So is Riccardo Bigon going to have a quiet transfer window as he hopes? I doubt it…

Defense - The foot injury sustained so early in the season and so close to the end of the transfer window for Miguel Britos meant Napoli did not have enough time to find an adequate replacement. Luckilly Salvatore Aronica has performed as well as can be expected however he is out of contract in the summer. Aronica has been linked with a move to Atalanta but I see a situation similar to Michele Pazienza last year where he stays until his contract runs out and then departs. Outcast Leandro Rinaudo has been linked with a move away to Novara and is currently not training with the team.

(Rinaudo has scored more goals for Napoli than Mario Santana and Marco Donadel combined - FACT)

The return of Miguel Britos should mean we do not need to strengthen in this area however if someone like Salvatore Bocchetti should become avaliable then I think we should seriously consider a move with a view to Aronica’s contract running out in the summer.

Midfield - This is an area of the pitch where I look at the list of players we have and on paper you think ‘yeah, thats quite good’. Gokhan Inler and Walter Gargano have perfomed well but those that have came in last summer have not performed as expected. Blerim Dzemaili has had peaks and troughs when he has played. Mario Santana has not perfored to the standard I had expected and Marco Donadel has been conspicuous by his abscence. Napoli had a ready made replacement for Michele Pazienza in Hassan Yebda but decided against paying the €2.2 Million to keep a member of the team who had already been intergrated into the squad and performing well. I still think this was the wrong decision.

Napoli have been linked with moves for Antonio Candreva and Mehdi Benatia but the player I would like to see arrive would be Angelo Palombo from Sampdoria. I think he is an exceptional midfield talent and he has worked under Walter Mazzarri before. Christian Maggio and Hugo Campagnaro are testiment that Mazzarri can improve players he has worked with previouisly and I can see the same with Palombo if he was to join Napoli.

(The only sighting of Marco Donadel in a Napoli shirt…..)

Fiorentina are rumoured to have expressed an interest in Marco Donadel although Riccardo Bigon is insistant that he is going to be like a new signing this January. Mario Santana has been linked with a move to various sides and I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of Donadel or Santana leave this month.

Attack - Edinson Cavani is not for sale. Marek Hamsik is not for sale. Ezequiel Lavezzi HAS A RELEASE CLAUSE set at €31,000,000. If any club triggers this then he can go if he agrees terms, this is a fact Aurellio De Laurentiis has not tired in telling us all in the past.

In all honesty I can’t see Lavezzi leaving unless clubs get desperate towards the end of the window for a striker and trigger the clause. (I am looking at you Liverpool and Chelsea). Transfer windows have come and gone before where he could have gone and he has not departed so why should this one be any different?

(Two goals against Juventus have kickstarted the Pandynator’s season)

The arrival of Eduardo Vargas does raise major doubts over the future of Giuseppe Mascara who has not played very often. He has been linked with moves back to Catania and also Novara. Goran Pandev finding form recently should mean that no other moves should be made in this area.

Well, thats my opinion. Let the crazy mercato begin…….

A summer of lion masks, scooters and RELEASE CLAUSES but Napoli look in good shape ahead of the season

‘Lion Man’ points the way

The Summer

It has been an eventful close season. No sooner had the season finished than it looked like Walter Mazzarri was on his way out of the club. Following ‘crisis’ talks with Aurellio De Laurentiis and Riccardo Bigon the tuscan tactician was confirmed for the coming season. Mazzarri’s backroom staff are also retained for another two years. The summer will be remembered though for De Laurentiis storming out of the draw of the Serie A fixtures after being dealt a bad hand and then riding on the back of a strangers scooter. A truly idiotic and legendary performance.

Mercato

Napoli kept hold of every star player this summer. Edinson Cavani signed a new contract after his breakout year last season. Marek Hamsik was NOT AC Milan’s ‘Mr X’ and despite the best efforts of De Laurentiis mentioning that Ezequiel Lavezzi has a RELEASE CLAUSE he remains a Napoli player.

Napoli underwent a revolution in midfield.Out went Hassan Yebda, Michele Pazienza,Jose Sosa and Manule Blasi. In arrived Gokhan Inler, putting an end to the ‘transfer saga’ which seems to have went on forever. Fellow Swiss midfielder Blerim Dzemaili has been signed from Parma while both Marco Donadel and Mario Santana arrive from Fiorentina.

The defence has been strengthened with the signing of Miguel Britos from Bologna although he will miss the start of the season after breaking his toe. Argentine international defender Federico Fernandez joined up with the squad this summer following his signing in January and Napoli bought Ignacio Fideleff from Newell’s Old Boys towards the end of the transfer window.

In attack Napoli brought in experienced striker Goran Pandev from Inter on loan for the season and in the most bizarre transfer of the summer Cristian Chavez from San Lorenzo, a player who has been on loan for two season to Argentine second divison side Atletico Tucuman last season

Napoli’s OTHER Swiss midfielder

Star Man

Can Edinson Cavani have a season like last year? It will be tough. He has been playing ‘non-stop’ for two years and yet to have a proper rest after the Copa America. Having said that he didn’t have much of a pre season last year after the World Cup and we all know how that ended. If he continues to get the level of support from Marek Hamsik and Ezequeil Lavezzi then he could go close to last seasons goal scoring efforts. The arrival of Goran Pandev should mean ‘El Matador gets more rest through the season which can only benefit him and the team in the long run.

El Matador….

One to Watch

Mario Santana arrived on a free transfer from Fiorentina this summer and could be a revelation. He is very versatile. He can play on either wing, as an attacking midfielder and also a second striker. He has bags of talent. He is a huge upgrade on Jose Sosa. If Napoli can keep him fit he may well rekindle his career in Naples. He can be a very special player.

Santana meets the boss….

Prediction

I am not really a predictions person (i predicted Juve to win Serie A last season). A couple of things to bear in mind. Napoli have added players from a position of strength while other clubs have done so out of necessity and although Napoli were knocked out in the round of 32 in the Europa League this didn’t effect the team and actually aided them in the long run as the team had one goal in mind, Champions League qualification.

If Napoli get knocked out early (and with a group Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Manchester City it looks that way) I don’t think it will affect the team. Napoli are stronger than last year, have a longer bench than last year and have an excellent motivator with Walter Mazzarri in charge. Time will only tell if they have strengthened enough to catch up with AC Milan and hold off the likes of AS Roma and Juventus.

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Well that is my little preview for the season. Due to work commitments I sadly will not be able to update this as much as I would like however I will still be around twitter @napoliblogger and I will still be posting the odd titbit on here.

Enjoy the season…..