CorSport – Napoli, Conte aims to restore defensive solidity: the stats | OneFootball

The Offensive Phase is Growing, but in Defense…

Napoli is first in the league alongside Roma, part of the group of thirteen teams in the Champions League standings with 3 points, sharing company with Barça, Liverpool, Atletico, Chelsea, and Atalanta. Most importantly, they continue their growth path with a very positive management of the dual commitment so far: they have always won after the cups. Another point of extreme interest from the previous season should not be overlooked: the growth in the scoring phase is tangible, in terms of concreteness. A practical example: referring to Serie A, they hold the second-best attack with 12 goals scored, 5 more than Roma itself and 5 less than Inter, the leader in this specialty in the standings. Napoli found what they were looking for in the market: more goals and greater offensive impact; and any reference to Hojlund, De Bruyne, and Lucca himself, who scored a crucial goal from the bench against Pisa, is absolutely not coincidental. Good. But then there’s another aspect, another topic raised by Conte: «We must not lose that healthy fear of conceding goals, the one that makes you run backward». A phrase that, transliterated, sounds roughly like this: we need to regain that defensive attention that allowed Napoli to win the championship a season ago despite having the sixth-best attack and closing with the best defense among the top five European leagues. The numbers don’t lie: 9 goals conceded in 8 matches, of which 6 in 6 league days, and the seventh defense in Serie A. But the data also doesn’t lie: between Italy and the Champions League, Conte has never been able to field the lineup considered most starting from the beginning. In fact, only once, against Cagliari, did he have the chance to rely on almost all the effective players in the department, nine out of ten except for Gutierrez; and only for 27 minutes, after Buongiorno’s entry, could he showcase the ideal quartet with Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, and Spinazzola. Coincidentally, in the 95th minute, it was Buongiorno who invited Anguissa to score: 1-0. That was also the last clean sheet.

A year ago, without the Champions League, Napoli already counted four clean sheets in the first 6 league days, with 4 goals conceded: 3 all at once in Verona, one against Parma on a penalty. Stop. Today the story is different, despite the five victories and the shared lead: 6 goals conceded in as many matches, but better, meaning worse distributed; 2 with Milan and Pisa, one with Fiorentina and Genoa. The goal was only secured in August, at Mapei with Sassuolo at the start and with Cagliari at Maradona: it will be 49 days on Saturday in Turin. Counting the Champions League as well, and net of the incredible difficulties created by being outnumbered against City at Etihad, Napoli has conceded 9 goals in 8 matches: 2 in Manchester, one at home with Sporting Lisbon. The systematic alternation of goalkeepers, four times each between the posts, has not negatively impacted at all: it’s good to clarify this and add the xG against data, equal to 6.36. Almost perfect identity with the goals. The problems, besides some inevitable individual lapses, mainly concern the team’s interpretation of the non-possession phase. Many shots conceded: 63 against Inter’s 52, Roma’s 58, Milan’s 57; 94 counting the cup, of which 23 from City while outnumbered. And still: unusual lapses of attention were recorded at the end of the matches in Florence, at 3-0, and against Pisa, at 3-1; and initially against Genoa and especially Milan. With a great mitigating factor: in Milan, also dealing with the arrival of Sporting, Conte was forced to launch an unprecedented line with Di Lorenzo, Marianucci, Juan Jesus, and Gutierrez. Two absolute debutants: Marianucci and Guti. Absent: Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Olivera, Spinazzola.

San Siro is the manifesto of the emergency that Napoli has been experiencing since the first break, when Rrahmani was sidelined due to an injury sustained with Kosovo. Perhaps the great joystick of the defense, the giant among giants: he hasn’t played since Cagliari, will miss Torino and PSV, and has set his sights on Inter. Against Toro, at his home, Buongiorno will return; at least among the called-up players. And these days, that’s already something.

Carlo Gioia

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.