Porto's substitutes beat Napoli 4-1 while Allegri waits too long

Porto's substitutes won this game. Napoli's were sent on after it had already gone.

Napoli made their first changes in the 78th minute. Lang and Giovane replaced Anguissa and Vergara, seven minutes after Napoli had gone behind. Lucca came on for Politano in the 82nd, with the score already 3-1.

Massimiliano Allegri was back on the bench after a suspension, so these were his decisions. They are also exactly what the city has been arguing about for weeks: a Napoli that waits and reacts instead of taking the initiative.

The warnings came early

Napoli went in at half-time level at 1-1. McTominay equalised in the 43rd minute after Bednarek's opener in the 11th. But Napoli had four players booked in little more than half an hour: Vergara in the first minute, Anguissa in the 21st, Rrahmani in the 35th and McTominay in the 36th. That left two midfielders and a centre-back to be managed through the whole second half.

Then came two clearer warnings. Bednarek hit the woodwork in the 56th minute and Veiga did the same in the 63rd. Twice in seven minutes Porto showed where the game was heading. Napoli's bench did nothing for another quarter of an hour.

The numbers rule out an off night

Anyone calling this a bad night has to deal with the numbers. Possession was close to even, 52% to 48%. Napoli were not pinned back in their own box. They had as much of the ball as Porto and did far less with it.

Porto had 19 shots to Napoli's 11, and 8 on target to 6. Four of Porto's eight shots on target went in. Against this opponent, Napoli lacked the quality to hurt them with the ball and the resilience to defend without it. Marín's red card in the 88th minute left them a man down in a game that was already over.

There were absences in defence, and everyone knew about them. Di Lorenzo and Olivera are injured, and Spinazzola and Favasuli were left out of this trip. But a list of missing players does not explain conceding three goals in the last 20 minutes.

An old wound reopened

Where it happened matters too. Napoli supporters still remember last season's Champions League league phase, which the club finished in 30th place, and the 6-2 defeat to PSV, the worst European loss in the club's history. Coming back to Europe and collapsing like this in the second half reopens exactly that wound. The next matches in the competition will show what this defeat means for Napoli's campaign. The way it happened is already a problem.

Lazio visit the Maradona on Sunday 8 November at 12:30 CET (11:30 UK, 06:30 ET). Napoli go into that game on the back of two straight defeats, away to Juventus in Turin and now in Porto, with six goals conceded and only one scored.

Asking for patience is no longer enough. Napoli need to stop waiting until they are behind before they change anything, and they need a coach who leads the game instead of chasing it. The fans are still behind the team. What they want from Allegri now is answers, and those answers have to come on the pitch.