The Stadio San Paolo played host to a top of the table clash on Friday night which offered the opportunity for Napoli to half Juventus lead at the top of the table and truly open the title race or equally, enable Juventus to take a nine point lead and effectively end the title race at the beginning of March.

In such circumstances amidst the hype and build up, the possibility of a draw and an “as you were” situation was not fully contemplated but that is exactly what we have.

The 1-1 draw means the gap remains at six points.

Line Ups

For Napoli playing their second game in five days, Mazzari made a few changes to the side which had drawn their third successive league, away to Udinese.

Both Maggio and Zuniga came back into the side as the wing backs with Armero and Mesto dropping out. Further up the pitch, Pandev started on the left with Insigne on the substitutes bench.

It remained the customary 3-4-2-1 from Mazzari and Napoli.

There were two changes for Conte. Asamoah and Pogba were on the bench with Chiellini recalled immediately following his return from injury and the surprise inclusion of Peluso as left wing back. Normally a centre back, the inclusion of Peluso was designed to limit the attacking potential of Maggio. Peluso would stay deep.

Juventus started the game with their preferred 3-1-4-2.

First Half

Napoli began very brightly and Hamsik blazed a shot over after just 10 seconds. Napoli were pressing high preventing Buffon taking short goal kicks with their front three marking the Juve centre backs but this soon settled down and the Bianconeri moved higher up the pitch and began to exert a degree of control over proceedings.

Juventus played a number of long diagonal balls in this opening spell aimed down the channels between the wide centre back and the wing back for Napoli but there was no general pattern of play at this stage nor when the opening goal arrived after 9 minutes. After a short corner was taken, Pirlo received the ball back and Behrami failed to prevent the cross from being delivered. At the back post it was quite simple. Chiellini wanted to win the ball much more than Britos who seemed unsure whether to challenge for the ball or prevent Chiellini from doing so. He did neither and Juve took the lead.

Napoli tried to respond but were twice lucky not to fall further behind with Vidal instrumental on both occasions. Two runs into the channel between Zuniga and Britos ended with Vucinic heading wide and then forcing a save from De Sanctis.

On both occasions, Vidal had run on beyond Inler in the midfield battle which was essentially Inler and Behrami vs Marchisio and Vidal. Whilst Marchisio and Behrami was contested well, Vidal clearly had the advantage over Inler.

A further problem in the midfield area for Napoli was a reluctance of Cavani, Pandev or Hamsik to press the Juventus defenders bringing the ball out or then to drop back and help the midfield. Hamsik tracked Pirlo but Juve were still able to move forward. The Bianconeri were able to control he midfield area by offering greater dynamism and mobility from their payers. Giovinco and Vucinic were prepared to drop off with Vidal in particular bursting in behind. That variation in the play was never evident from Napoli.

Juventus Graft

With the potential to close the gap in the race for the scudetto, Juventus realised from the outset that this was not going to be a night for flair and creativity. It was about graft, hard work and discipline. Qualities which the Bianconeri have in abundance.

Juventus completed 25 tackles from an attempted 33 but the location of the tackles is important. Seldom did Maggio get the better of Peluso and the number of successful tackles Juventus made on their left side is evident against the threat posed by Maggio alongside Pandev and Campagnaro when he broke forward. Peluso made 6 successful tackles form 8 attempted:-

The graphic also shows the tackles Juventus made higher up the pitch as they pressed and harassed Napoli, something which the hosts failed to do successfully.

Napoli Midfield – Lacking Creativity



Too often in the game, Napoli were bereft of ideas and craft in the middle of the park.

Much of the creative burden falls towards Gokhan Inler but he does not possess the necessary qualities to unlock defences at the very highest level.

As the graphic below shows, Inler made 48 from 56 passes but lacked penetrative threat. Too many passes were square or went to the wings, only to return back to the centre of the pitch against a Juventus side who were content with a low block when the situation demanded it.

Some of the blame must also move towards the front three as they must offer the necesary movement for Inler to spot but with Cavani failing to score in his last five Serie A games, confidence in the front line is low right now.

Inler’s midfield partner Valon Behrami made 6 successful tackles from 7 attempted. Behrami also made six interceptions as he produced a sound display defensively.

Perhaps a further example of the lack of creativity in the middle was De Sanctis attempts to always release the ball quickly and exploit juventus on transitions. Primarily a counter attacking side, Napoli lack the sufficient guile and craft to open up a well organised defensive side.

Second Half

With the injury to Britos forcing his withdrawal, Napoli moved to a 4-3-3 in the second half with Dzemali on the right and Inler on the left of the midfield trio.

The change had little impact immediately with the first 15 or so minute of the second half offering little.

The switch in formation eventually offered something to Napoli with Maggio and Dzemali combing well on the right and at last threatening Peluso. With the Partenopei trying to push forward, Juventus had a little more space to counter attack but there were few clear chances.

As the game entered the final stages, Conte withdrew Vucinic for Pogba to help strengthen the midfield and close the game off.

Problems in the “Red Zone”

With both sides playing three central defenders and wing backs, an interesting feature was how much space existed i the “red zone”, that central zone just outside of the penalty area, when their opponent attacked.

The graphic below shows the total number of shots from Juventus. From six attempted shots in the red zone, only two were blocked with two being off target and two being saved by De Sanctis:-

Compare this against the number of shots that Napoli had. Eleven shots in the red zone with four of these being blocked. Two shots were off target and four were saved by Buffon but the Napoli goal arrived from here via Inler and a deflection taking the ball above the diving shot stopper:-

The question must be why were there so many shots arriving from this area of the pitch on both sides?

When a back three comes under pressure, the automatic response of the wing backs is to drop alongside their central defenders and form a line of five. This leaves an area in front of the defence that the remaining players must cover. Marchisio was being pulled wide by the threat of Pandev and Maggio leaving Pirlo and Vidal to patrol the area alone. When the ball is shifted quickly, Juventus were too slow to close their opponents down. It’s how Inler managed to score. The challenge came to late.

Despite conceding fewer shots, the problem is arguably more magnified for Napoli. With the front three remaining high and the back five operating as a unit, it leaves Inler and Behrami with a huge area to cover.

One Point Gained or Two Points Lost?

With five wins and five draws in their last ten league games, Napoli may have extended their unbeaten run but is it enough? With three successive draws in Serie A, Napoli missed repeated opportunities to close the gap sufficiently on leaders Juventus. Last night Napoli failed to take advantage once more.

What was most surprising was the lack of adventure in the closing stages. The lack of genuine quality on the Naploi bench must also be a sign of frustration. With options limited, perhaps Mazzari would rather remain 6 points behind Juventus with the hope of catching them rather than fall 9 behind and know the league is over?

Either way, Napoli now have just one win in their last seven meeting with Juventus in all competitions. To win titles you must win the key games or get favourable results. Juventus under Conte have proven they can do that. Napoi under Mazzari have not.

Conclusions

The title race remains alive, just.

The game was never able to match the build up and hype beforehand in terms of quality but it did deliver an intensely fought 90 minutes.

Juventus perhaps have the more demanding run in whilst also contending with a European campaign. Napoli can remain focused on the domestic front but with so many opportunities passed over until this point, what confidence can Mazzari have that his side will be able to take advantage of any further slip ups by the Bianconeri?