Napoli, Conte's victory against Fiorentina: concreteness and a cohesive group

Despite the absences of Buongiorno, Kvaratskhelia and Politano, the Salento coach wins and convinces at Franchi and does so thanks to the second lines and the choices born from the market

di GIUSY ANNA MARIA D'ALESSIO
5 January 2025
The Azzurri's exultation at the Franchi (Ansa)

The Azzurri's exultation at the Franchi (Ansa)

Naples, January 5, 2025 - The pitch calls and the Napoli, as it has almost always done so far this season, responds, taking full advantage of the positive contingency dictated by the postponement of rivals' matches due to the Supercoppa Italiana: the taking of Franchi, in fact, the temporary (and virtual) lead is worth it Atalanta e Inter, the first pursuers this weekend on stage at Riad and now linger respectively of 3 e 4 points (but, in order, with one and two games to recover). In a normal situation of classification, the Azzurri, after having beaten at home the Fiorentina, would have brought home the platonic title of 'winter champions', but the situation requires several distinctions and a lot of waiting. No big deal, because the Napoli di Antonio Conte he is not very interested in the details that are meaningless and he focuses on concreteness, as demonstrated by conquering a historically very complicated field and in a team that is far from being in excellent health.

A trio of children of the market

 Out Khvisha Kvaratskhelia e Matteo Politano, in addition to long-term care Alessandro Good morning: not exactly the best conditions to attack a team that, at home, in recent years has often reserved more disappointments than joys for the Azzurri. Instead, the Napoli introduces himself to Franchi with the right face of someone who wants to come out on top, even at the cost of sacrificing, precisely, the spectacle. Paradoxically, the extreme concreteness displayed by the Neapolitans ends up giving quality, as well as quantity, to a very important victory, which brings three signatures that are not random and are the result of the very expensive summer market. He opens the scoring David Neres, who explains well to everyone why, by his own express declaration, he is better off on the right than on the left, where in turn he had done more than well in recent weeks. The second seal is put on him Romelu Lukaku, who redeems from the penalty spot the mistake made against the Venice: the form is not yet that of the golden days, as well as the performance on the pitch, but in the meantime the Belgian finds a way to make himself useful also with several fundamental passes, such as the one that had led to the goal of Neres.

Then he drops the hat trick Scott McTominay, the 'all-rounder' who was needed for the Napoli already last year, who, culpably, was not picked up during the transfer market. A mistake that the Neapolitan club remedied at the right time: the Scotsman does everything, even with a few mistakes promptly redeemed in the key phases of the match. In fact, as stated by Raphael Palladino, the third network of the Napoli he actually cut the legs off a Fiorentina up to that point never tamed and that probably deserved something more in terms of results. The pitch instead sanctioned a 3-0 for guests who reward their choices Tale, in truth limited precisely by the verdicts of the infirmary during the week. According to a school of thought, for coaches the work is paradoxically easier when the options are limited, a scenario that also seems to provide many mitigating circumstances in the event of an unfortunate outcome of the match. Accomplice precisely a summer market that has provided him with many arrows to his bow, Tale instead he moved the right pieces, not before confirming his true diktat in the pre-match press conference: everyone is important, but no one is irreplaceable. A commandment that is valid today, during the current season, but that will probably be even more valid in the transfer market, both in January and in the summer.

Conte's diktat

If one really had to find a recipient of this theory, which is also well represented in practice, it would have to be identified in kvaratskhelia, genius and debauchery of a Napoli who in the last two seasons has been totally dependent on his mood swings. Today, however, the Azzurri win and convince even without the Georgian, who for some paradoxically is even becoming a problem: when available, it is impossible to bench the hero of the championship, who in turn on the field is often more smoke than roast. Not exactly what he wants Tale for its Napoli, more sword than foil. And to the Franchi 'bad manners' were used to find the clean sheet number 11 of the season which is worth the best defense for the AzzurriEurope (like theAtlético Madrid) and of course d'Italy: even more positive numbers if compared to external performance alone, with the Napoli that after the hat-trick at the debut of Verona he only cashed in on the whole 3 goal. And, just to stay on the subject of interchangeable protagonists (or almost), lately he's been doing it without Good morning, the best defender of the first part of the season who risks having it for a few more weeks. So, the input of Tale it really is valid and not only for the attack, the department where in theory the experiments seem easier to implement.

The only flaw of this philosophy was the terrible evening in Coppa Italia against Lazio, the one that betrayed the Salento coach and probably the same top levels of the Neapolitan club, who perhaps thought they had created two teams with similar value. The block of the second lines failed miserably, taking away from the Napoli the second and only seasonal objective apart from the championship, which in the meantime is going swimmingly. Probably in that case the revolution was too widespread, while the gradual grafts of the supporting actors are proving to be more than simple patches for the holes left by a suddenly crowded infirmary. The same Juan Jesus, long at odds with everything and everyone, is responding present, almost as if wanting to chase away the probable arrival of his compatriot from the market Danilo, looking closely, a similar profile in terms of age and personality. A Tale, the manager coach who, victory after victory, increasingly legitimizes his dual role, the last word after the first, the one that at the beginning of the season established the orders to be carried out, has been perfectly received by his team.  

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