Napoli post-match thread

[KingCarlito]

I'll certainly take that against a top team. Previous seasons we would have thrown that away and rolled over, albeit without our amazing first 20 minutes we would probably have lost.

Good grit and team spirit, hope he doesn't change it too much for Burnley on Saturday.

Did anybody notice any trouble at the game? Seemed to be an incident outside Mary D's about an hour from kick off.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Great first 35 mins but thereafter Napoli were slightly the better side. Fernandinho had a poor 2nd half as he got outnumbered far too often and he, Sane and Sterling lost the ball far too frequently.
Pep needs to be able to play with two DMs against the better sides. Could have been 2-2 or 5-2 in the end. Gundogan and Sane missed second half chances that should have been goals.
Ederson is the best keeper in the Prem. My MOTM .

 

[Proy]

I thought we defended brilliantly.

Considering we were on the back foot, we still had more attempts on goal, and more moments than they did in that 2nd half. We were counter attacking well, only poor decision making in the final pass is what hurt us.

Napoli are a great team, but for all that slick, crisp passing and interplay they didn't create nearly enough. 3 shots on target, 2 were penalties and one was our own fuck up.

I thought under that type of pressure we played out brilliantly, although on one or two occasions getting out of the press only to pass staright back into it. Pep lost his shit on a couple of occasions.

I never felt like we were going to lose that game. A significant step from last year and certainly years gone by in the champions league and for the first time I feel like we belong here, and that we have a chance of actually winning the thing.

It's a long season but we are looking great and it feels different to our usual good start this time. We finally have a goalkeeper and that has made a critical difference to how we play.

I think with Mendy in this team, well I'd have us in the final of this competition.

 

[lancs blue]

Good match that, Napoli are a talented bunch and play decent football. We came out of the blocks quickly and built the lead but they were always going to come back at us at some point though if Kev's shot had gone in it would have saved a few worries in the 2nd half. Stones MOTM for me, one fantastic block in the 2nd half. Surprised that Sterling was the wide man to come off as Sane was disappointing in the 2nd half, rarely tried to take his man on despite having looked to have the beating of him in the first period.

 

[Claytop]

Yeh not bad but if United manage a 0-0 at Benfica I reckon there's will be a better result. We just can't stop conceding...

 

[Armaan]

Great first 35 mins but thereafter Napoli were slightly the better side. Fernandinho had a poor 2nd half as he got outnumbered far too often and Sane and Sterling lost the ball far too frequently.
Pep needs to be able to play with two DMs against the better sides. Could have been 2-2 or 5-2 in the end. Gundogan and Sane missed second half chances that should have been goals.
Ederson is the best keeper in the Prem. My MOTM .

Even when they were the better side we still created more chances than them. On another day that would've ended 5-3 or 6-4 to us but we definitely deserved to win that game based on chances created.

 

[chaddblue]

I wonder if Stanley will say a 2-1 win against a top Italian side is better than a 7-0 win v Haribo... will he fuck!!!

 

[Marvin]

Great result. Performance good. I think Pep has gone way OTT about Napoli. They were an absolute shambles in the first 20 minutes and the game could have easily been over in the 1st half. We seemed to get complacent and started to give the ball away cheaply. Very noticeable that as soon as they scored we took control again. That's good that a nerve inducing scoreline makes us respond positively.

And where were the Italian fans? There was at least 300 or 400 empty seats at the top of their tier. They were supposed to be bringing 5,000. More like half that.

 

[i kne albert davy]

Great result. Performance good. I think Pep has gone way OTT about Napoli. They were an absolute shambles in the first 20 minutes and the game could have easily been over in the 1st half. We seemed to get complacent and started to give the ball away cheaply. Very noticeable that as soon as they scored we took control again. That's good that a nerve inducing scoreline makes us respond positively.

And where were the Italian fans? There was at least 300 or 400 empty seats at the top of their tier. They were supposed to be bringing 5,000. More like half that.

Most of em were sat round me didn't bring any free ice cream either.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Even when they were the better side we still created more chances than them. On another day that would've ended 5-3 or 6-4 to us but we definitely deserved to win that game based on chances created.

We did, but tjat is not the point I am making. We lost possession because we gave the ball away too frequently. Pep has to find an answer to this against the very top sides. Ghe answer is sacrificing an attacker for a DM. He did it in the end but he needed to do it 20 mins earlier.