Allegri toughens his approach as Napoli wait on McTominay

Friday's front pages are dominated not by a match but by what is happening inside Castel Volturno, Napoli's training ground. Il Mattino leads on this: after weeks of gentler methods, the paper reports, Massimiliano Allegri is about to shift towards a tougher approach, following the draw in Florence and a start to the season that has convinced no one.

Less carrot and more stick

On the recovery front, Corriere dello Sport focuses on Scott McTominay. The paper reports that the Scotland midfielder returns to training on Friday, still working apart from the group, after his heart operation, and that the club will manage his return with maximum caution, without forcing the schedule.

A lighter note among the dressing-room stories: Tuttosport leads on Costantino Favasuli, with a headline suggesting the defender could soon be called up to the national team under Mancini. Only the headline is available from that piece, and that is how we report it.

The review closes with a Corriere dello Sport exclusive: an interview with Ghoulam, who looks back on Youtube at his years under Sarri at Napoli, his relationship with Benítez, and a season when the league title slipped away, mixing personal memories with the knee problems that complicated his career.

Our take

Today's papers tell us more about what is happening behind the scenes than about the pitch, and in a way that is understandable: after a draw that has left the club unsatisfied, and a ninth-place finish nobody had planned for, the real story is how Allegri intends to restore order. But the crackdown described by Il Mattino suggests, between the lines, that something in the dressing room was not working. It would have been more honest to say so plainly instead of dressing it up as a simple technical adjustment.

On McTominay, credit to Corriere dello Sport for its caution, which at least does not fuel hopes of an early return. The Favasuli story remains a headline, not a fact — we will wait before crediting him with a call-up. And missing from the whole of Friday's review is the question that matters most to us: how Napoli plan to climb from ninth place before their next official fixture.