Antonio Sanabria levelled the scoreline with a close-range bicycle kick shortly after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring. Forza Napoli Press explored 10 quick takeaways from the 1-1 draw.
1. Kvara is Back
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was undoubtedly the man of the match. With his fourth goal in three matches, the Georgian reached double-digit goals for a second consecutive season, laying to rest any suggestions that he was a one-season wonder. The Napoli winger led all players with 8 shot attempts, four shots on target and an individual xG of 0.7, benefitting from the freedom Francesco Calzona afforded him to roam. In an interview with Cronache di Spogliatoio earlier this week, Calzona took responsibility for Kvara’s first few performances not being up to par, admitting he asked the Georgian to do things differently too soon. He said, “For example, he was used to doing a defensive run-up phase, while I asked him for a preventive defensive phase, so as to also save him energy. They are different concepts. He was so focused on my requests that he lost sight of his main qualities.”
2. VMS
Kvaratskhelia would have added to his tally had it not been for a standout performance from Vanja Milinković-Savić. The Torino goalkeeper made seven saves in the match, including four important saves on Kvaratskhelia: a point blank shot midway through the first half; a diving header destined for the bottom corner; a powerful strike from distance in the second half; and an overhit cross that nearly sailed into the goal.
3. Air Napoli
As is often the case when he plays, Leo Østigård led all players with 7 (out of 9) aerial duels won. His centre back partner, Juan Jesus, was second (along with Raoul Bellanova and Duvan Zapata) with 4 aerial duels won. The pair hardly made a misstep at the back. Jesus has been particularly impressive since his costly error against Cagliari, making a number of important tackles against Torino.
4. Not a Buongiorno for Osimhen
After recording three goals, one assist and a penalty kick won (and missed) in his first three matches under Calzona, Victor Osimhen was not his usual, menacing self against Torino. The Napoli strikeman was the recipient of 11 passes with his back to goal. On six occasions he was either dispossessed or made an errant pass. The Nigerian’s struggles were largely due to the stellar play of Alessio Buongioro. The impressive young centre back was nearly perfect in his marking of Osimhen. The defender was physical (without fouling often) and rarely gave the Nigerian time or space to turn. On the long ball, Buongioro bought himself time by playing off of the reigning Capocannoniere, negating Osimhen’s pace.
5. Penalty Shouts
Osimhen and Buongiorno also came together twice in the Torino area. On both occasions, Osimhen went to ground but was not awarded a penalty kick. The striker has developed a reputation for going to ground too easily, perhaps influencing the decisions of the officiating crew. On one occasion, Buongiorno’s forearm appeared to catch Osimhen on the back. However, football is a contact sport and not all contact in the area warrants a penalty kick. Indeed, softer penalty kicks have been given, but two (or five or ten) wrongs don’t make a right. Napoli fans would be livid if a penalty kick was awarded for a similar “offense” at the opposite end of the pitch.
6. Tony’s Awakening
Antonio Sanabria equalized shortly after Kvaratskhelia’s opener with a stunning bicycle kick from close range. It was the striker’s first league goal since he scored against Napoli on the 7th of January. Many Napoli players were at fault on the goal. Matteo Politano, who might have been playing hurt, was easily beaten by Duvan Zapata, whose low cross was cleared for a Torino corner kick. After Zapata’s flicked header, the ball took a fortuitous bounce off of André-Frank Zambo Anguissa before falling kindly to Sanabria. Mario Rui lost sight of the Paraguayan, who was left completely unmarked in front of the goal. While it would be unreasonable to expect a goalkeeper to stop a powerful shot from 5 meters away, it would not be unreasonable to expect a keeper to attack the cross. Even if Meret did not win the ball in the air, he might have been better positioned to catch the second ball. Instead, he was frozen on his line, in a difficult position to keep the shot out.
7. Lucky Linetty
Karol Linetty was rather fortunate to finish the match without being cautioned. In fact, it was rather remarkable the Pole was not shown a yellow card. The Torino midfielder committed three fouls, each of which, considered in isolation, could have been deemed a yellow card: a high boot on Mario Rui in the first half; a heavy tackle on Kvaratskhelia midway through the second half; and a late tackle on Hamed Traore in the 78th minute.
8. Set Piece Misery
Napoli were awarded nine corner kicks in the second half, but made very little use of them. Other than Juan Jesus’ 78th minute header into the ground, which was well-caught by Milinkovic-Savic, the remaining eight attempts posed little threat. The majority of Napoli’s corner kicks were cleared to safety by Torino.
9. Stopped Short
Fourth Official Daniele Perenzoni awarded a minimum of 6 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the second half, based on the following incidents (rounded to the nearest 15s):
- 49’ Matteo Politano injury stoppage – 0:45
- 61’ Goal stoppage and substitution – 1:30
- 64′ Goal stoppage – 1:15
- 68’ Substitutions – 0:45
- 75’ Koffi Djidji injury stoppage – 0:45
- 80’ Substitution – 0:30
- 82’ Raoul Bellanova injury stoppage – 0:45
- 88’ Raoul Bellanova injury stoppage and substitutions – 1:30
- 90’ Valentino Lazaro and Antonio Sanabria injury stoppage – 2:00
- 90+2’ Substitution – 0:30
Daniele Orsato allowed an additional 1:30 of stoppage time for time-wasting. Thus, actual stoppage (10:15) was slightly more than stoppage time awarded (7:30). According to the official match report, the effective playing time (i.e. the time ball in play) was only 53 minutes. Calzona made this point in his post-match interview with Sky Sport, saying, “The only thing that displeased me is that we played too little in terms of actual time, perhaps there could have been a few more minutes of injury time.”
10. Work in Progress
Napoli have made significant progress since the return of Calzona only 20 days ago. Calzona is undefeated in his five matches in charge – Napoli’s first such run since late October/early November – and the style of play finally bears some similarity to the style under Spalletti. However, there is still plenty of work to do. Calzona’s team has conceded exactly one goal in all five matches, while scoring more than one goal from open play only once (in the 1-6 victory over relegation-bound Sassuolo). Napoli have not recorded three consecutive victories all season.
