Since the surprising resignation of Antonio Conte, the fortunes of winning the Serie A has become the most balanced. Let’s face it, Conte’s men has frustrated all the teams that gave a shot in the last three years, Napoli included, but with Conte leaving Juventus, the “Calcio” is maybe set to enter in a new phase or let’s a say a new start with no clear favorite to win it, so can it be Napoli?
The “Partenopei” finished 3rd last season & crashed unfairly from the first group stage of the Champions League, but De Laurentiis’ boys managed to end the season on a high, winning the Coppa Italia, which saved their season given the expectations put on this team to win the Scudetto and go as far as possible in the Champions League. But overall, it should be considered a positive year for a team with a new coach and quite some big changes in the players or the style of play, call it year “zero” of the new Napoli.
But going into year two of the project, De Laurentiis and the fans would expect much better result from this team, they are expected to learn from last term mistakes and show more maturity and growth in order to prove their status as one of the contenders to the title and why not the black horse in Europe.
Last year Napoli’s problems weren’t that of a squad or players, on the opposite, they had an impressive transfer campaign, where they splashed heavy on the likes of Higauin, Mertens, Callejon and Albiol. Seeing them build a strong competitive squad that can withstand playing on three fronts, what Napoli really lacked was the “character” of a big team.
Sometimes you got the sense that the players didn’t have the mentality or the believe they are on the same level of opponent like against Arsenal in London or against Juventus in Turin, the same problem appeared in their home games against smaller teams. Too many draws against the likes of Udinese, Parma, such games should be a guarantee for a team who’s willing to compete for the title, and if someone is to blame for this problem of character, it’s mainly Rafa Benitez, because it’s his responsibility to give his team an identity on the field, someone with Benitez’ experience and caliber should be more than capable to do.
Another problem that faced Benitez was the injury to Marek Hamsik, a player who is the heart and soul of this team. Before the injury Hamsik was on top form, scoring 5 goals & assisting as much, leading the team to joint second place, however when he injured himself the team lost it’s flare and seemed to miss a beat. Even when he got back from injury, he failed to regain his form, something that deeply affected Benitez tactics and way of play given the Slovak’s great influence. If Napoli were to give it a real fight this year, they need Hamsik at his absolute best all season long.
Their transfer market has been a quiet one so far, signing Mariano Andujar from Catania to fill the space left by the departure of Pepe Reina and Swansea forward Michu was brought on loan to act as the “vice-Higuain”, along with Edu Vargas who returned from his loan in Valencia. Two players who’ll give the team back-up and further solutions in the attack, also, Kalidou Koulibaly was signed from Stander De Liege to fill the gap still left by Paolo Cannavaro and with the imminent arrival of Marouane Fellaini from United, Napoli would have strengthened what was already a strong squad.
This Napoli team has all what it takes to be champions at the end of the term, they just need to believe in themselves and their abilities, add to this some luck and an injury free campaign as possible, we may end up with Napoli finally winning the long awaited 3rd Scudetto since the Maradona days.