Italian papers split over Allegri's Arsenal game plan

Two days on from the 0-1 defeat to Arsenal and two days out from Bologna, the papers cannot agree on what Allegri's game plan actually was. The only name everyone rates: debutant Costantino Favasuli.

by Gennaro SanninoFriday 11 September, 08:40 CET· 2 hours ago

Primo piano dell'allenatore che risponde — Foto: SSC Napoli (canale ufficiale)

Two days after Napoli's 0-1 defeat to Arsenal, and two days before Bologna, Friday's papers split over the question that matters most: was the Champions League defeat a tactical episode, or does it say something bigger about Allegri's start to the season. On that, the press cannot agree.

TuttoMercatoWeb is the harshest on the game plan. Its headline argues that "defending and countering on the break isn't enough any more in 2026", adding that it's a lesson Napoli "need to learn fast" — a direct shot at Allegri's ultra-defensive approach against the Gunners.

La Gazzetta dello Sport sees it differently, handing a 6.5 rating to both Allegri and Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta.

Max had it well worked out…

Same episode, opposite verdict from TMW: where one paper sees a structural limit, the other sees a well-prepared plan.

Corriere dello Sport runs two separate lines. On the pitch, it praises debutant Costantino Favasuli, who came on in the second half against Arsenal, calling him "a player worth building around". On the officiating, its match-review column fails the referee's performance, with pointed criticism of the official who took charge of the Arsenal game.

Il Mattino is already looking ahead, and doing so sharply on the squad. Its headline reads "They were supposed to make the difference, instead they disappoint", aimed at two Napoli players whose names the piece does not give. A separate article fails Alisson Santos — "who we won't see for a while", after he picked up an injury in the Arsenal game — writing that his performances even make Napoli "miss Lang", the winger left out of the squad for disciplinary reasons.

Sky Sport, meanwhile, is already looking to Bologna, with an update on a possible return for André-Frank Anguissa, one of Allegri's selection dilemmas for Sunday.

Our take

What stands out is less the substance of the individual pieces than the gap between Gazzetta and TMW: two opposite readings of the same game plan, two days after the same 0-1, show that even the press cannot agree on what Napoli-Arsenal actually was. Il Mattino, for its part, picks the easier target — a player already out through injury — rather than the real question: with seven possible absentees, who does Allegri actually pick against Bologna, and with what idea of a team. On that, nobody in the press has written a word.