Allegri's back-three plan rests on a defender yet to play a minute

Napoli are exploring a switch to three at the back during the international break, built around Sam Beukema — sidelined since the start of the season by an old Achilles tendon problem and still without a single league minute this term.

by Gennaro SanninoSaturday 26 September, 16:36 CET· 2 hours ago

Allegri con la maglia del Napoli — Foto: corrieredellosport.it

The detail that changes the picture is this: the player Allegri would build the tactical shift around hasn't set foot on the pitch in five games of Serie A. Sam Beukema has been waiting for his season debut since an old Achilles tendon problem ruled him out, and he is the man identified to anchor a three-man defence.

Allegri weighing a move from 4-3-3 to a back three isn't new. What is new is that the switch would have one specific pivot point, and that the two weeks before Napoli host Frosinone would be used for exactly that: getting a defender who has been out for months fit again, and handing him a starting role in a new system.

Midfield stays, defence changes

The midfield certainties wouldn't be touched: the Gilmour-Lobotka double pivot would remain fixed, whatever shape sits in front of the defence. What would change is the structure behind it, with two variants on the table — 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3, depending on personnel. On the flanks, the options are pushing Di Lorenzo into a wing-back role or starting Favasuli from the first minute; he already has a Serie A debut behind him and has been called up by the Under-21s for the double header against Armenia and Poland in October.

There's a third, less direct route: not a fixed back three, but a back four that only looks like one, with Beukema playing at full-back but ready to tuck inside centrally in defensive phases, and Spinazzola free to push much further forward on the opposite side. It's a way of getting the solidity of three centre-backs without fully giving up the familiar structure.

Napoli reach this tactical crossroads in ninth place, with 7 points from five games, and the international break as the only window to fix a start that Opta rated the club's worst in the last ten years. Changing formation in pursuit of balance is fair enough; doing so by banking on the return of a player who has been out since the start of the season and never tested in a match is a gamble, not a certainty — and Allegri knows that better than anyone.

Two weeks remain to turn the idea into something real on the pitch. The first proper test comes on Saturday 10 October at the Maradona, against Frosinone, sixth in the table. That's where we'll find out whether the new shape, built around a man still to make his debut, actually holds up.