Press slams Napoli's collapse in Villarreal, Allegri offers no excuses

The day after the 3-1 defeat, Italian papers dissect how Napoli lost control of the game in Villarreal, while Manna's interview already looks ahead to the club's season targets.

by Gennaro SanninoWednesday 14 October, 08:40 CET· 1 hour ago

I NUMERI

Arena Napoli International graphic

The morning after the 3-1 defeat in Villarreal, the sports pages all circle the same question: how did Napoli collapse so badly against a side that isn't among the group's favourites? Between harsh headlines, Allegri's self-criticism and an interview with Manna that already looks beyond the emergency, Wednesday 14 October's press paints a picture of a team still searching for answers.

Il Mattino doesn't soften its language, running the headline "Un orrido blackout" ("A horrific blackout"), the harshest verdict on the Villarreal night. The same paper, in a second piece, warns against pinning everything on Politano — whose back-pass opened the door to Mikautadze's equaliser — with a headline left deliberately unfinished: "Ora se la prenderanno tutti con Politano, ma la colpa..." ("Now everyone will go after Politano, but the blame..."). A third headline is blunter still, calling it "Disastro in Spagna" ("Disaster in Spain") and writing that only one forward comes out of it with any credit, without naming further exceptions.

Sky Sport gathered Allegri's post-match comments, and the head coach offered no mitigation: "Le partite si possono perdere, ma non in questo modo" ("You can lose matches, but not like this"). Before kick-off, Allegri had already asked his side for points. Still on Sky, the post-match analysis also produced a moment of tension in the studio: a sharp exchange between Di Canio and Bucciantini while discussing Villarreal-Napoli and Inter-Club Brugge.

In a separate Sky interview, Manna addressed McTominay's contract renewal — "vuole restare con noi e noi vogliamo che resti con noi il più a lungo possibile" ("he wants to stay with us and we want him to stay with us for as long as possible") — and set out the club's season targets: reaching the Champions League playoffs and finishing as high as possible in Serie A.

TuttoMercatoWeb, meanwhile, already looks to the next round of Serie A, focusing on Venezia's decision to sack Stroppa ahead of Saturday's fixture. The choice of new head coach is being made in the days before Venezia-Napoli.

Our view

The papers agree on the central point: in Villarreal, Napoli lost control of the match in a way that cannot be filed away as bad luck, and Allegri's words confirm the problem was mental, not just technical. We're less convinced by the urge to try a single culprit: Politano's back-pass is a fact, but the collapse came from an entire team that stopped holding the game together. And there's something jarring about the contrast between an unresolved crisis in the Champions League and an interview, the very next day, already discussing playoffs and season targets — first there's the small matter of explaining how you concede three goals in half an hour to a Spanish mid-table side.