Napoli’s final goal in the thrilling encounter against Milan perhaps summed the game up in a nutshell. Lorenzo Insigne’s ball across the six-yard box wasn’t perfect, but it was knocked over the line by a stumbling Alessio Romagnoli who tried desperately to claw it out of the net with his hand. Jose Callejon following it up anyway saved him a red card and a penalty. The 4-2 win for the Neapolitans showcased huge defensive problems both teams have, although it seems that the Partenopei’s forward line may be able to paper over the cracks.

For Napoli most of the summer has been focused in the departure of Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain. His big money move to rivals Juventus left many thinking they would struggle to find the 36 goals that their old hero had provided. The purchase of Arkadiusz Milik from Ajax was seen as a hopeful reaction rather than a definitive answer to their problems and the mercato was filled with rumours of more offensive talent being drafted in.

The opening day 2-2 draw with Pescara however, showed that the focus was in the wrong place. Dries Mertens was on fire that day and managed to drag his team level after they had gone two goals down. Against Milan he was also superb and, along with Insigne (in his brief appearance), Callejon, Marek Hamsik and two goal hero Milik, proved that they can still score goals by the bucket load.

It could be argued that Napoli’s biggest weakness last season was an over dependence on Higuain himself and that if the Argentine had suffered an injury then their campaign would have gone into free fall. This year it appears that Maurizio Sarri has challenged his men to replace the goals of Gonzalo through the collective efforts of the team and the six goals in two league games suggest that they are succeeding.

Defensively however, they have looked poor and the sluggish start at Pescara was matched in the game against Milan as they allowed the Rossoneri to claw their way back into the game after going two goals up. Pepe Reina has looked in poor form and whilst not making any obvious mistakes, he has not excelled and looked slow to react. The back four have not seemed to click as yet and there are no signs that Kalidou Koulibaly deserves to be talked about in the €50m conversation.

The apathetic approach that has been seen from Raul Albiol, Faouzi Ghoulam, Elseid Hysaj and Vlad Chiriches perhaps offers up the question of whether this back line has gone stale and needs freshening up? Perhaps the money they could gain from the transfer from selling their Senegalese centre-back could be put to good use?

Part of the problem that the Neapolitans have faced defensively could also be that Allan has is off form. He is usually tireless in his tracking back and protecting the back four by pressing the opposition midfield, but his energy levels have seemed lacking. He has also been constantly caught out of position in the last two matches and this had an impact.

There is still time before the window closes and if Sarri can get his defence playing with the same vim and vigour that his front line is exhibiting, then there could be no need to even dip their toes in the market. The freshness that the forward line is showing suggests that they may no struggle too much this season, but if they are to compete with the likes of Juventus this year, then they must become more solid at the back.

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