What Went Wrong for Napoli Against AC Milan?

Napoli have many questions to answer after their disappointing 2-0 defeat to AC Milan on Sunday evening. It was arguably their worst performance of the season.

The Partenopei entered the contest with four draws and a single win in their last five matches in all competitions, highlighting their troubled form.

Coach Rafael Benitez made seven changes to the side that comfortably beat Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League. Captain Marek Hamsik started on the bench in place of Jonathan de Guzman, and the double pivot consisting of Jorginho and David Lopez returned but failed to impress.

Milan quickly found the back of the net in the sixth minute in what proved to be another disastrous performance by Napoli’s defence. Giacomo Bonaventura sealed the home side’s fate in the 52nd minute with an unmarked, glancing header.

Speaking after the match to Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia), Benitez confessed:

The game started badly for us, the team reacted well in the second half, but Higuain was disappointed at the way things went.

We had more chances later on because Milan sat back in defence, but we had opportunities throughout and failed to score.

We are talking about Milan, not a small club. They have quality players and if we didn’t press them well all the time, it’s normal they’d be able to hurt us.

Clearly we need to win our games to get closer. It’ll be increasingly tough to get third place, but we knew Serie A was a very difficult League.

Napoli now need to improve their fortunes against lowly Parma on Thursday to close out their 2014 league campaign.

Over the following pages is a look at what went wrong for Napoli against Milan. 

One factor that characterised Napoli’s poor play was their ball movement.

Building attacks from the back, defenders Kalidou Koulibaly and Raul Albiol were far too casual in starting moves.

The Partenopei found success last season through their lightning-quick counters and quick passing, which left defences helpless.

This season, they seem to struggle against sides that sit back and look to counter.

In order for Napoli to threaten opposing teams, Rafa’s men need to express an urgency in their play. Much of that responsibility belongs to the double pivot in midfield.

Once the Partenopei get out of the habit of pedestrian play, they should improve going forward. 

Napoli have had issues with a leaky defence for some time now.

The side simply lack the necessary focus in marking and closing down opponents, and supporters of the club have been calling for the acquisition of a quality centre-back to no avail for a while.

Milan were clearly the better side on the day, but Napoli’s poor marking allowed the Rossoneri to garner full points.

Even Koulibaly, who has been a stalwart all season, appeared sluggish in some instances. However, this could be down to his pairing with Albiol, who has not been as consistent as last season.

The club will need to sort out their defensive issues if they want to finish in third.

When Napoli did have possession, they were very static in attack and short of ideas. Rafa’s men were left flat-footed in their attempts to construct forward play.

As previously mentioned, De Guzman started in the No. 10 role. He has made the most out of his appearances by contributing goals, but the Dutchman failed to link midfield with attack. He remained high up the pitch near Gonzalo Higuain, isolated from his teammates, which did not help.

Most of the away side’s attacks came through left-winger Dries Mertens. This meant that there was a gaping hole in the Partenopei’s attack left by the invisible De Guzman.

Napoli did try to spread their play by utilising full-backs Giandomenico Mesto and Faouzi Ghoulam, but they failed to deliver meaningful crosses.

Hamsik entered the match in the 61st minute, but by then the Rossoneri firmly closed up shop and allowed little space for Napoli to exploit.

At the end of the day, Benitez may need to alter his tactical setup to get the best out of his players.