29 shots, 0 goals: Napoli's problem is right there

Napoli dominated at Venezia from start to finish and still lost: 29 shots and a missed De Bruyne penalty point to a concrete problem, not bad luck.

by Gennaro SanninoSaturday 17 October, 17:35 CET· 3 hours ago

Kevin De Bruyne — Foto: Bryan Berlin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Twenty-nine shots, ten on target, twelve corners won to zero conceded: Napoli controlled this game from the first minute to the last in Venice, and still went home with nothing. The number matters more than the scoreline, because it describes a defeat that cannot be filed away as a one-off. With these numbers in their favour and no goals scored, the problem is not misfortune. It is the attack.

The moment that could have changed the game came in the 68th minute, from a penalty. De Bruyne missed it. He had come on a quarter of an hour earlier, part of a triple substitution in the 54th and 55th minutes that also brought on Höjlund and Santos, sent on by Allegri straight after Adams' goal in the 49th minute — a sign Napoli knew they had to respond fast. The response came. So did the siege. The goal did not.

Twelve corners to zero and ten shots on target without ever beating the goalkeeper are not down to chance. They are the responsibility of whoever picked the starting eleven, and of whoever needs to find a way to win a match played almost entirely in the opposition half without anything to show for it. With the squad and the wage bill Napoli have, failing to close out a game dominated this one-sidedly while trailing 0-1 is not a detail to move past. It is the question Allegri has to answer.

Napoli stay ninth in the table on 10 points from 7 games, behind sides including Frosinone, Cagliari, Como and Juventus. It is a second straight defeat after the loss at Villarreal, and the record over the last five matches reads two wins, one draw and two defeats — a run that cannot be called normal with this squad.

Bodo Glimt next, but that is not the answer

Bodo Glimt visit the Maradona on Tuesday, but that is a different competition, and it will not answer what was seen this evening. The answer needed is simpler: turning 29 shots into at least one goal. Without that, the possession, the corners and the siege stay numbers on a page, not points on the table.