The standings speak clearly: Napoli sit in first place with Inter previously at the top looking to contend to for the title but are now out of it dropping to fourth place. The fight of the northern rivals Juventus are the only team left in the scudetto race who sit just one point behind the Partenopei. I have outlined why Napoli were successful against Atalanta and what this means for the scudetto race.
The scudetto pact made at the beginning of the year in the locker room between the players made even more players motivated focusing on the strength of the group to realize what for years was only a dream.
The path is long and tortuous, but Napoli have shown never to give even for a second in a league that does not give you many chances.
Napoli, beyond everything, has acquired a maturity that sees a bright future ahead.
In the past winning “1-0” was almost impossible to achieve, it was always necessary to score as many goals as possible to win the game. Today this has finally changed the mentality of the players thanks to Sarri. Here are the reasons that I will explain in my analysis:
– Napoli’s game play can be detrimental to those teams that leave too many spaces to them as they move the ball quickly with triangular passes. Speed, fast dribbling and quick passes are characteristics of Napoli’s attacking trio, shown by Martens, Insigne, or the effective cut of Callejon who finds the back door behind the defender is also proven to be effective. On the other hand, a closed defense by the opponent sometimes puts Napoli in serious difficulty in carrying out their attack. For this reason the goal scored by Dries Martens against Atalanta is a true masterpiece of tactical intelligence and – of course – technique. Getting on the edge of the offside, in short, was really the only way to get find the back the back of the net.
Juventus have shown in the past to win several league titles by having a solid defense and winning many 1-0 games. This is what Napoli has proven in yesterday’s game, that makes them on par with the bianconieri as potential scuedetto candidates. Yesterday, in this regard, Napoli never really suffered, except for a dangerous shot by Charles that Reina saved.
On an end note, I really liked the grit of Allan and Koulibaly in yesterday’s match in front of a hostile and racist crowd.
It’s too bad for the sad incident of a fan who threw a bottle towards the Napoli players after the goal. Also these racist chants by the Atlanta fans will never be tolerated.
Yesterday their fans lost common sense and civilization, but – at the same time – they won the love and passion (the real one) for these Napoli colors and the brilliant Mertens goal.
By: Ludovica Donnarumma, Giornalista
