Napoli sit ninth and the table leaves no excuses

Venezia beat Napoli 1-0 to leave them ninth, with 10 points from seven games and only Atalanta below them in the table.

Inter lead the way with 19 points, with Roma on 17 and Lazio on 16: Napoli are nine points off top. These are mid-October numbers, not final verdicts, but a club that sees itself as a contender is looking at the Champions League zone from outside it, not from within.

For a club that has made a standing place in Europe its stated aim, and that has won two Scudetti in three years, ninth is not a detail to shrug off. It is a snapshot of a season that has not yet delivered what the squad and the wage bill promised. Responsibility for a start like this falls on whoever chose the players and the system, not on chance.

Serie A now pauses for Napoli-Bodo Glimt, a Champions League match that will not move the Serie A table — a different competition, with its own rules and its own race. But the problem exposed by this round of fixtures is still there waiting, and it concerns the league alone.