Napoli keep letting leads slip - Allegri demands more bite
Como, Inter and Fiorentina have produced the same film this season: Napoli score, then concede the reply within minutes. After the draw at the Franchi, Allegri took the issue into the dressing room.
Allegri said it loudly after the 1-1 at Florence, before the international break: Napoli need more bite, at both ends of the pitch. He said it in his post-match comments at the Franchi, and then there was a heated exchange with the squad in the dressing room.
The head coach has put his finger on a wound that has reopened three times already this season. Against Como, Højlund equalised to make it 1-1, but Baturina put Como back ahead soon after; the game finished 1-2, with a defence that fell apart. At San Siro against Inter, Højlund again scored to make it 2-0, and the reply from Inter came just as quickly, with Lautaro dragging the game back into contention; Inter won 3-2. At Florence, Gilmour put Napoli ahead in the 23rd minute, but Jiménez equalised by the 51st, right at the start of the second half - the exact moment when, in Allegri's view, his side should have slowed the game down and tightened up instead of continuing to push.
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Three different matches, the same flaw: an inability to read the moment when Napoli are ahead. It is not a minor detail - it is the difference between taking points home and giving them away. And it matters even more for a team that already struggles to create chances of its own. After four matchdays it was the defence causing more concern than the attack, but things are no better going forward: Højlund touches very few balls inside the box, despite having scored twice this season.
Whose responsibility
The tactical responsibility for these moments belongs to whoever is managing the team on the pitch. It is up to Allegri to find a way to protect Napoli's leads, and he acknowledged as much himself by confronting the problem directly in the Florence dressing room, rather than limiting himself to a post-match quote. The point is that this demand for more bite comes from a coach who has chosen not to change his system - the 4-3-3 was confirmed again in the friendly against Avellino - which means he has to fix the problem with the players and patterns he already has.
The context makes it all more urgent. Napoli are ninth with 7 points after five matchdays (2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats), well off the Champions League zone the club has set as the minimum target for Allegri's tenure, which began on 3 July with a contract running to 2029. Two unbeaten results in a row to close out this spell - 1-0 over Bologna and the 1-1 at Florence - are not enough to hide the fact that Napoli come apart whenever they try to see out a game.
Frosinone visit the Maradona on Saturday 10 October at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET). If Napoli go ahead, it will be the first real chance to show they have learned the lesson from the Franchi.
Source: Il Napolista
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