Allegri banned for two games after Napoli's 3-3 draw with Roma

Napoli will be without head coach Allegri on the touchline for two matches. The sports judge has banned him for two games over "disrespectful expressions towards match officials" in Saturday's 3-3 draw with Roma at the Maradona.

The second is worse. On Sunday 1 November Napoli travel to face Juventus at the Allianz Stadium, one of the sides our season is measured against.

A red card that costs twice

Allegri is back for Napoli-Lazio on Sunday 8 November at 12:30 CET at the Maradona. Gattuso's Lazio are level on 22 points with Inter at the top of the table.

That makes three matches between Monza and Lazio, with Juventus in the middle. It will be two weeks before Allegri sits on the bench again.

The timing is poor. Napoli are tenth with 11 points after eight games, 11 behind the leaders, and cannot easily afford to lose a figure of authority on the touchline.

The Roma game went from 2-0 to 3-3. Managing the match from the 48th minute onwards is the criticism the fanbase levels at the coach. The red card came late in the game, after the struggle to close it out was already clear.

We question how much sense it makes for the man charged with getting this team back into the Champions League places to miss two games through a lapse of temper. Napoli already struggle to hold on to results. They did not need another source of instability, and the responsibility for lighting the fuse lies with whoever lit it.

Monza is the first test of how the team stands up without its coach beside the pitch. Assistant Marco Landucci will be the technical reference.

Then comes Juventus, the heavier of the two games, in a run of three that ends on 4 November at the Dragão against Porto.