Arsenal beat Napoli and the press splits over who is to blame

Thursday's papers disagree on how to read the 0-1 defeat to Arsenal, with some praising the performance and others targeting Allegri. The Lang case, a player dropped for disciplinary reasons, adds another layer.

by Gennaro SanninoThursday 10 September, 08:40 CET· 2 hours ago

Immagine — Foto: fanpage.it

Napoli's 0-1 defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday evening, their third straight loss after Como and Inter, dominates Thursday's papers — and the coverage splits straight down the middle.

Il Mattino writes that "Napoli is piaciuto alla sua gente" (the team pleased its supporters) for the personality shown, while flagging too much imprecision on the counter. Corriere dello Sport takes the opposite line, with the headline "Odegaard gela Max, l'Arsenal sbanca il Maradona" (Odegaard freezes Max, Arsenal win at the Maradona): the defeat is placed on Allegri's management, not on the team's display. Two readings of the same match — and that gap is the story of the day.

On the tactical side, La Gazzetta dello Sport carries analysis from Valon Behrami, who names Lobotka as "the key man" for attacking Arsenal and recalls Napoli's 2-0 win over Arsenal back in 2013. Il Mattino interviews Emiliano Viviano, who says he liked "the Napoli we saw against Inter". Corriere dello Sport turns the spotlight on Kevin De Bruyne, noting the Belgian midfielder has scored 8 times against Arsenal in his career while at Manchester City — though on Wednesday he started on the bench.

The Lang case

Thursday's news story is the Lang case. Sky Sport reports comments from sporting director Giovanni Manna on the eve of the match: Lang was left out of the squad over conduct judged not appropriate, has already apologised, and watched the game alongside the sporting director. "Siamo tranquilli ma non contenti, vogliamo vincere" (We're calm but not happy, we want to win), Manna added. Sky Sport also flags fitness concerns for Alisson Santos and Meret, under the headline "bad news for Allegri", without giving further detail.

On the predictions front, Paolo Condò on Sky Sport rates Arsenal favourites to win the Champions League outright and places Napoli among the playoff-tier sides. Il Mattino also details Arsenal's troubled build-up: the Gunners only landed in Naples late in the evening because of a flight problem, which meant Arteta could not appear at his press conference.

Our take

The competing readings from Il Mattino and Corriere dello Sport say more about the press than about the match: after a third straight defeat, there is no performance to half-save — there is a team that has lost again. The Lang case deserved more than a passing line among the day's stories: a player left out for disciplinary reasons on the eve of a Champions League game is significant, and Manna's two comments to Sky raise more questions than they answer. Nobody today is seriously asking whether Allegri already has the right ideas to end this run: the papers dwell on individual episodes — De Bruyne, Lobotka, Arsenal's flight — but miss the question supporters are actually asking.