Napoli, 7 wins in a row and yet another show of strength: the secret of the second half

Naples, January 26, 2025 - And I am 7: the necklace of the Napoli is enriched with another pearl, the most sought-after for the square and probably also for Antonio Conte, who, against his past as a footballer first and then as a coach in his career, has so far collected more disappointments than joys. Instead, the Maradona, even in its previous name of St. Paul, For the Juventus It remains a taboo that has lasted since 2019 and this time it takes on other meanings that go far beyond the 'simple' rivalry. From the first defeat in the championship to the final farewell to the already residual chances of closing on the leaders, a role that instead has belonged to the same team for some time now, for a leadership that is starting to take on the traits of a sentence.  

Conte's balance sheet

Between superstition and mathematics, with theInter that in case of victory at Lecce and in the recovery at home of the Fiorentina would in turn be first to 44 points, the speech may seem premature, but many clues are starting to make more than one proof. Some speak of lucky episodes, but Tale he is keen to balance the issue by recalling the more or less serious and more or less definitive defections. We start from the injury of Alessandro Good morning, the linchpin of the defense whose absence no one is noticing and not due to the demerits of the player in the pits, we move on to the last-minute knockout of Mathias Olivera, the second in a few weeks and we arrive at the sale of Khvisha Kvaratskhelia, the most representative player and the authentic symbol of the Scudetto: three blows that could have sunk a team that had returned to being one just six months ago after the rubble left by the last championship, in turn followed by a transfer session that had seen several illustrious departures. On the hypothetical scale held by Tale, the cons outweigh the pros for a Napoli which still does not satisfy everyone but is increasingly first in the standings. The mirror of the ongoing debate on the real strength of the Azzurri is in the last two challenges, both won in a comeback and not exactly dominating the opponent of the moment, respectively Atalanta e Juventus. Just to stay in the sterile game of comparisons with the past, a past that forcefully returns to the surface now that the prospect of the championship once again looms on the horizon, the Napoli di Luciano Spalletti was perhaps more beautiful externally and also more dominant also thanks to some individuals who emerged from the group. This last concept is the one dearest to Tale, consistent with himself when it came to deciding the fate of some of the top players in the squad, first in the summer (Victor Osimhen) and then in winter (precisely Fourth): the same Tale which however, from time to time, takes care to remind the square of the pharaonic markets of others and the need to invest and keep up if tomorrow the bar of the objectives were to be raised further thanks to the European competitions. An apparent contradiction that today fades into the background, because the present of the Napoli it's all focused on a championship that, given how it is going, must be won at all costs.

A second half dominated

Here the chapter on episodes comes back into play, this time in the sense of events that can potentially change the course of the entire match: even more so when they occur in the first half. It happens that at Maradona start better Juventus, good at almost always eluding the pressure of the home team, who are no strangers to running around aimlessly. Right in the opening half, the Bianconeri find their first and only two shots on target: one fired by Kenan Yildiz and thwarted by a miracle as usual Alex Meret and another one on target from the new face Randal Color, for a XG (the index of the Expected Goals) clearly on the side of the guests. In the second half everything changes, starting with the numbers: theXG for the blues fly to 2.25 against 0,00 of the black and whites, who never shoot on goal, compared to the 10 conclusions of rivals, embellished by 6 corner a 0, and overlook the area defended by Meret with just 3 touches. Numbers in football may not be everything, but sometimes they give a good idea of ​​what the Napoli knows how to build when he enters (or re-enters) the game with a bad face. For the beautiful game, go back later or maybe never, because the prerogatives of Tale are quite different: concreteness, solidity, unity of purpose and cynicism, just to list a few that the Azzurri are putting into practice well. The other side of the coin, especially when the performances are clearly divided in two like yesterday's, speaks of the recriminations of the losers of the day. First it was the turn of Gian Piero Gasperini and then of Thiago Motta, the two losers who complain and bring water to their own mill. Then there is that of Tale, which works so well even when the evening seems complicated. The individuals do their part, like the scorers yesterday Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa e Romelu Lukaku, but the central spotlight is on the group and its cohesion. The Napoli di Tale It may not be beautiful to look at, but it exudes a cohesion of purpose that perhaps at the moment has no equal in Serie A, as the standings, although still marred by asterisks, are trying to show. And when the days played start to be many, with more than half of the championship already in the archives, the impression is that in addition to the first balances, some conclusions can already be drawn. The same Tale he is no longer hiding, despite the attempts still present to bring into play past points, turnover and the market of other teams: the reality is that his Napoli is increasingly the favourite for the championship.

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