Napoli (A) Post Match Thread

[Dribble]

I've said plenty of positives already, so please don't take this the wrong way.

But I thought it was worth mentioning that at times we were hoofing it up the field far too much, and when we did that, we conceded possession every time and went back to defending again. Napoli pressed us better than any team I've seen this season, cutting off angles and putting our defenders under immense pressure. Delph in particular ended up passing it back to Ederson pretty often.

We need to really work on keeping our composure and not resorting to hoofing it. We just do not have the midfield or strikers to win the ball if it's hoofed forward.

That said, I don't think any PL side this season will press us as well as Napoli did. The danger for any side trying to do this is of course once we've beaten the press, we've taken 3 or 4 or 5 opposition players right out of the game and we can attack them at speed.

I think Otamendi's chest back to Ederson might have been on the players minds when we cleared the decks earlier on. However, we did mix it up with a bit of possession football, and on 30-35 minutes, I could see Napoli wilting after their early exertions. Doing what they did is no different to a boxer coming out swinging from the first bell. All the opposition has to do is cover up and be as solid as possible until the slugger hits the energy wall which inevitably happens.

We played a great game last night and I couldn't be more proud of the way we handled a brilliant Napoli side.

 

[Magicpole]

I read today, on here I think, that if you top the group you play PSG.

Is that true? I can't see it being as two group winners don't usually play each other.

 

[BringBackSwales]

So far teams we’ve faced tired parking double dicker , press and attack .
Nothing seems to work against us.
Managers must be fuming how to cope with this city’s team.

What’s a double dicker, is it ferguson and mourinho?

 

[kaz7]

I read today, on here I think, that if you top the group you play PSG.

Is that true? I can't see it being as two group winners don't usually play each other.

No we won't play them,depends who finishes where as to who we do play,we usually get the hardest one next round

 

[FlemishDuck]

The potential weakness i took from this match for us is that we need to be weary of asymetric formations which for ex. would overload a flank. Do consider that at the start of the game Napoli was very dangerous on our right flank and that kinda stopped went Ghoulam got injured, and i thought it was logical that the tactic to overload that flank had become difficult for Napoli once they lost Ghoulam, so in a sense i believe we would have seen a lot more danger on our right flank from Napoli if ghoulam had stayed on and it would have possibly become a far more difficult match for us.

Having played a lot of football manager i always loved assymetric formations, personally i think it's the superior tactic when facing a stronger opponent to aim to overload a flank and potentially exploit the space created on the other side with cross passing. We might get more teams trying that on us in the future and it might be difficult to react fast enough to it.

 

[Magicpole]

No we won't play them,depends who finishes where as to who we do play,we usually get the hardest one next round

Tell me about it. :)

 

[inchy14]

All in Italian and they're clearly as mad as a bag of badgers, but this clip has some great footage of the goals and captures the atmosphere, at least for the Napoli fans....

Brilliant that, like bring in the ‘home’ end but without wearing a stab vest.

 

[dublinblue12]

I read today, on here I think, that if you top the group you play PSG.

Is that true? I can't see it being as two group winners don't usually play each other.

Possibly in the final ;)

 

[Chi-town blues]

What’s a double dicker, is it ferguson and mourinho?

Spot on ;)

 

[Machiavelli]

He said he would never come here at all,bless

Hiya Kaz, did he say this on ragcafe? I wish he’d have kept his word ;0)