Napoli beat Bodø/Glimt 4-3 but still cannot protect a lead

Four goals at the Maradona were enough to win, but three conceded to a side with 15 shots show the defence is the real problem. Allegri's substitutions in the last quarter of an hour did not help.

by Gennaro SanninoWednesday 21 October, 02:29 CET· yesterday

Scott McTominay — Foto: Bryan Berlin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Napoli scored four times against Bodø/Glimt and won, but the story of the night is the leads they gave away. Politano scored in the first minute and Hauge equalised in the 27th. McTominay restored the lead in the 41st and Helmersen equalised in the 62nd. Bjørtuft's own goal in the 88th made it 4-2, and Fet pulled one back two minutes later to make it 4-3.

Only McTominay's goal for 3-2 in the 75th minute was never cancelled out, and the defence deserves no credit for that. It survived only because Napoli scored again. The attack did its job with 17 shots, 8 of them on target. Conceding 15 shots and 5 corners shows nobody did the same job at the other end.

One man, three goals

Both Norwegian equalisers came from the same source. Fet set up Hauge and then Helmersen, and then scored the 90th-minute goal himself. When one player builds all three of an opponent's goals at the Maradona, Napoli did not have a defence that night. They had a gap, and it stayed open all evening.

With Buongiorno not in the squad, Rrahmani and Marín started at centre-back. Beukema came on for Spinazzola in the 79th minute and changed nothing: Napoli scored once and conceded once after he came on. Bodø/Glimt had 57% of the ball. The visitors had more possession than Napoli in Napoli's own stadium, and they used it.

The front line carried the night

The attack held up, and the facts are clear. McTominay scored in the 41st and 75th minutes and hit the woodwork in the 60th. He is the man who decided the result. Politano opened the scoring from Spinazzola's assist and set up the third goal. De Bruyne provided the assist for 2-1. McTominay and Politano had a hand in three of the four goals, and the fourth was an own goal. Without their night, the score would have been different, because Napoli would have conceded three either way.

The bench

Allegri's substitutions need a closer look. Anguissa was booked in the 48th minute and replaced by Lobotka in the 60th. Lang was booked in the 58th and replaced by Giovane in the 80th. Taking off both booked players was a cautious choice, and easy to understand.

The 79th minute is harder to explain. Olivera and Beukema came on for Politano and Spinazzola, the two players behind the opening goal, a goal and two assists between them. After that, Di Lorenzo was booked in the 86th minute, Bjørtuft scored his own goal and Fet scored. Bodø/Glimt made four changes in the 84th minute and scored six minutes later. Napoli had already changed half the team, and a 4-2 lead was still not enough to close out the game.

Allegri is under scrutiny this week over his team's style of play and intensity. This match does not settle that debate, but it narrows it down. The intensity was there going forward, as four goals show. At the back it was missing, and conceding three at home to a side that shot 15 times is more than one bad night.

Next in the competition is Porto, away. Before that, Napoli host Roma at the Maradona on Saturday 24 October at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET). With a defence like this, the win over Bodø/Glimt is a warning, not a guarantee.