From a broken defense to a lackluster attack to infighting amongst protesting fans, everything went wrong for Napoli on Sunday. Meanwhile, everything went right for Milan as an out-of-form Rafael Leão looked like the MVP of last season while an out-of-form Davide Calabria negated Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Here are four takeaways selected by Forza Napoli Press.
Man-Marking Milan
In his 37th appearance this season, Stanislav Lobotka finally had a poor outing. The Slovakian midfielder uncharacteristically missed a number of passes. His pass completion rate of 87.5% was well below his season average of 95.1%. Lobotka’s struggles were largely due to Ismaël Bennacer, who was assigned to man-mark the Napoli regista. The Algerian constantly pressed Lobotka, giving him little time or space to move the ball and ultimately forced him into making errors.
Milan strategically pressed Napoli high for the majority of the match, effectively eliminating Azzurri’s midfield. Piotr Zielinski and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa also struggled to move the ball with their usual rhythm in the middle of the park. Zielinski’s heavy touch, combined with one of Sandro Tonali’s numerous successful tackles, resulted in Milan’s third goal, which sealed the victory.
With Victor Osimhen sidelined with a minor muscular injury, Napoli were missing their usual long outlet pass, and it showed. While Giovanni Simeone has been excellent when called upon, he simply does not have Osimhen’s pace. Instead, Napoli were forced to play short and wide, with less time and space.
Frustrated Kvara
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was frustrated on Sunday, both metaphorically and literally. As anticipated in the Italian media, Stefano Pioli reverted to a four-man back line in a 4-2-3-1 formation. That afforded Milan right back Davide Calabria his first start in six league matches. Though out of form, Calabria did a superb job of negating Napoli’s Georgian wonderkid. The Milan right back often played off the ball and jockeyed Kvara, allowing the winger to pass the ball to players who were less likely to score. Of Napoli’s 20 shot attempts, many were from outside the area and the four shots that hit the target hardly troubled Mike Maignon.
Meanwhile, match official Antonio Rapuano seemed to get under Kvaratskhelia’s skin the most. The Georgian was shocked to have a foul called against him late in the first half for a tackle on Calabria, before Brahim got away with pulling Kvara’s shirt moments later. In the second half, Kvaratskhelia ran at Calabria and appeared to win a corner kick but insead, Rapuano gave a goal kick. Kvaratskhelia’s frustration got to a point where even Spalletti needed to intervene, urging the 22-year-old to calm down.
Return of Leão
After failing to score in his previous 11 matches in all competitions, Rafael Leão looked like the player who won the Serie A MVP award last season. The Portugal native opened the scoring with a cheeky dink over Alex Meret after a perfectly timed run. Leão, who admitted after the match that he prefers to play in a wide position, put the match away with a left-footed missile into the top corner at the far post.
Curiously, Leão did not have a fixed position. Stefano Pioli gave him the license to roam, hence his position on the opening goal. Another player who was given the freedom to roam was Brahim Díaz. Other than Leão, Brahim was the best player on the pitch. He created the opening goal with a brilliant dribble near the touchline before playing a perfectly-weighted through ball. He added a goal after an exhausted Kim Min-jae failed to clear Bennacer’s cross from the left wing. Brahim sent Mario Rui flying with a dummy before his shot took a deflected in off of Kim.
Defenseless
While Napoli struggled all over the park, their defensive performance was the most shocking. According to OptaPaolo, it was the first time Napoli lost a match by a four-goal margin since December of 2007 and the first time Napoli have lost by a four-goal margin at home since October of 2000. Kim, who got himself caught up in controversy with Korean media after admitting to being exhausted, had his worst performance in a Napoli shirt.
Amir Rrahmani was not his usual solid self either. The Napoli centre backs made Alexis Saelemaekers look like prime Leo Messi on Milan’s fourth goal. Rrahmani was also beaten by Leão on Milan’s third in an unenviable 1-v-1 position against the Milan forward.
Meanwhile, Napoli’s full backs didn’t cover themselves in glory. Mario Rui, who started the match with Mathias Olivera suffering from a bout of lumbago, was caught out of position on Milan’s opening goal. On the same goal, Rrahmani and Di Lorenzo were not on the same page, playing Leão onside.
Pioli’s 4-2-3-1 formation allowed Milan to regularly break through Napoli’s first line of defense: the high press. With Napoli playing from behind, the Partenopei were forced to take more risks going forward. As a result, Milan were left with acres of space to attack in the second half and the Rossoneri took full advantage.
