The numbers show Højlund still hasn't found the box
Match by match, the heatmaps show a striker who spends more time near the centre circle than inside the penalty area. It's a stark contrast with the 16 goals he scored from inside the box last season.
The overall heatmap from Napoli's matches so far tells an uncomfortable story. The zone of the pitch where Højlund spends most of his time is not the opposition's penalty area — it's the centre circle. That's a paradox for a striker, and the numbers back it up without mercy. Against Genoa on the opening day of the season, and then away at Inter at San Siro, the Dane touched the ball inside the box only twice in the entire match.
His goal in Milan actually came from outside the area, a shot from distance. That was the same zone and the same range from which his goal against Como had come, in a 1-2 home defeat. It was precisely against Fabregas's Como side, though, that Højlund did a little more in open play: three total touches in the box across the minutes he played, his least disappointing return in an otherwise underwhelming run of games.
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The extremes tell the rest of the story. His worst outing came in the Champions League against Arsenal, in a home defeat decided by an Ødegaard goal in the 75th minute: Højlund touched the ball just once inside the Gunners' box all game. His best came against Bologna — Napoli's best-played match so far under Allegri, won 1-0 through Lobotka, assisted by Favasuli on his Serie A debut. It was also the game in which Højlund had the most touches inside the opposition's box.
The comparison with a year ago is telling. In his first season at Napoli he scored 16 goals — right foot, left foot, header — all born from the heart of the box, the six-yard-box instincts he brought from Old Trafford. The return from international duty — he is currently away with Denmark in the Nations League — needs to start from here: rediscovering the essence of a genuine number nine, staying in the box more, and better.
It's not a task Højlund can solve alone. Last season his preferred suppliers were team-mates such as McTominay, Alisson Santos and Neres, all back — or due back — at Castel Volturno (the training ground) after the break. If the service into the box returns to what it was twelve months ago, Højlund's touches inside the area should increase on their own.
The underlying question remains, for a Napoli side ninth on 7 points after five matchdays: how much of this drift away from the box is down to the striker, and how much reflects a team struggling to build clean moves up to the edge of the area. The league pauses for the international break, but the reckoning returns on schedule on Saturday 10 October, when Napoli face Frosinone at the Maradona — a game that will show whether Højlund has rediscovered his box, or is still searching for it from distance.
Source: Il Mattino Napoli
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