Well, the season
hasn't even started and its already off to a very bad start.The
abject failure against Athletic Bilbao has alarms bells sounding at full volume. What effect will this have for season ahead?
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| Under pressure |
Last term
Under Rafa Benitez
the team finished third in Serie A, possibly the bare minimum expected of the
new coach. We were unlucky to be knocked out of a very tough
Champions League group with 12 points but then stunk it up the Europa
League with virtually the same squad of players. The season ended on
a high by winning the Coppa Italia, although this was overshadowed by
the tragic death of Napoli fan Ciro Esposito. Overall I gave last
season a B-
Transfers in?
Well, we signed
Michu on loan from Swansea. French defender Kalidou "K2" Koulibaly has been brought in. David Lopez and
Jonathan De Guzman arrives to help plug the self inflicted gap in midfield. At
the time of writing, that is it.
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| Man mountain Kalidou Koulibaly aka The Wardrobe |
Transfer out?
Argentine defender
Federico Fernandez joins Swansea after an offer that could not be
refused arrived. Midfield wrecking ball Valon Behrami has left – A
departure already being felt.
How will the team line up?
Rafael: Maggio/Zuniga, Albiol, Koulibaly, Zuniga/Ghoulam: Inler, Jorginho: Callejon, Hamsik, Insigne/Mertens: Higuain
What to expect in 2014/15?
Anyone that has
followed Napoli closely over the summer would not have been surprised by the abject failure in Spain last Wednesday.
The summer has been
a real mess. Between a record number of players at the World Cup, hardly any transfer deals of any note and
the failure the sign Maxime Gonalons it has been a shambles. We have spent all summer trying to sign a stud midfielder, only to
be faced by rejections left right and centre.
Sporting Director
Riccardo Bigon and Aurelio De Laurentiis both need to have a serious
look at themselves for what is going on off the pitch. Lazio signed
Stefan De Vrij, Newcastle signed Daryl Janmaat, Inter signed Gary
Medel. These were realistic transfer targets for not a lot of money
signing for clubs not offering Champions League football. If they can do it (Newcastle are financialy sound club, Lotito at Lazio is a tight ass) then why can't we?
Bottom line, this
team has not been strengthened when you look at what Lazio, Roma and
Inter have done over the summer and we start the season with a squad which is somehow worse on paper than last year.
Off the field, club
president De Laurentiis has not only assaulted a fan this
year but also swore at one.. The man should be held up
as a hero for what he has done since he bought the club, but right
now he is under serious pressure as over 65% of fans (in an online poll) are blaming him for
Champions League elimination. He rightly must not overspend as I for
one do not want to return to the dark days of Salvatore Naldi
and Giorgio Corbelli, however this is the summer we needed to make a big leap in terms of quality, given what happened at Juventus over the summer as
well as the chasing pack closing the gap in quality.
As fans we don't help ourselves either. The prime example being the jeering of Lorenzo Insigne. He is not Lionel Messi but give the kid a break. This has to stop!!!!
The overall felling
I get is that something is not right at Napoli. You just have to look at the behaviour of Valon Behrami, Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne in Dimaro and this could be the
year of a meltdown. It is imperative that the team start the Serie A
campaign running or as we witnessed in the mid 90s and early 00s,
things can get very nasty very fast.
Personally, after
the humiliation of Bilbao, Benitez must get this squad to finish the season in at least second place to have any chance of staying on beyond this term. It is a very tough target and one, I am afraid to say which is beyond the group of players he has been presented with.
