Napoli retreat to Pozzuoli hotel before Bologna showdown

Napoli did not go home after their last training session. Since Saturday night the squad has been in retreat at a hotel in Pozzuoli, just outside Naples, ahead of kick-off against Bologna at the Maradona on Sunday 13 September at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK). It is not a routine call forced by the calendar — it is head coach Allegri's decision, designed to keep the squad together and focused until the last useful minute before the game.

Allegri himself admitted as much on the eve of the game, choosing measured but direct words.

Now we need facts: the less we think and talk, the better for the group.

It's in line with the calm he asked for after Arsenal, when he urged against overdramatising. But the message carries extra weight now that it comes alongside an unusual mid-season retreat, rather than before a showcase fixture at the end of the year.

The calendar leaves little room to manoeuvre. Allegri sees Bologna now and Fiorentina in the next round as the two matches that can pull Napoli clear of the crisis before the international break. Only afterwards, with Serie A resuming on 10 October against Frosinone at matchday 6, does the head coach expect to give the side a clearer identity. Until then, every point counts double.

Bologna arrive at the Maradona short-handed: without coach Domenico Tedesco, suspended for two matchdays, and without four regular starters — Zortea, Dovbyk, Orsolini and El Azzouzi. But mitigating circumstances for Napoli have all but disappeared after three defeats in a row, including against sides built to make life harder than Como and Inter did. The margin for another home slip has already been used up, and Napoli have yet to win at home this season.

There's nothing wrong with making busy silence the watchword — it shows a team trying to close ranks around its work rather than chase the arguments swirling around it these days, from the transfer window to the fixture list. But a September retreat, with the treatment room full — Meret, Alisson Santos and Anguissa all missing — and no summer signings brought in to cover the gaps, also suggests the tension inside Castel Volturno (the training ground) is higher than the club wants to let on.

Kick-off is at 18:00 CET on Sunday 13 September at the Maradona. What happens there, not what has been said this week, will show whether the Pozzuoli retreat was the right spark — or just a plaster over a deeper wound.