“I have wanted to go to that stadium for a long time, but we have never had the chance,” Lionel Messi told Mundo Deportivo earlier this week, revealing that he has longed to follow in Diego Maradona’s footsteps by playing at Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo. “I know the Neapolitans are crazy about football, I had teammates that played there, like Pocho Lavezzi and he told me they live for this and I’m very excited about going there.”
While the idea of that Champions League encounter with Barcelona bringing another Argentinian great to the city has generated plenty of buzz, it is an ex-player of a very different kind that has finally reignited the club. Napoli have struggled for much of this season, unable to replicate the results they attained under Maurizio Sarri, never mind the success they achieved when Diego Maradona was part of the team.
Carlo Ancelotti paid the ultimate price for his failings, sacked by the club in early December following a run of ten matches without a win. The decision seems to have been beneficial for everyone concerned as the departed coach thrives with Everton, while his replacement has been the galvanising force the Partenopei so desperately needed.
The streak that left owner Aurelio De Laurentiis feeling he had no choice but to make a change included draws with relegation candidates SPAL, Genoa and Udinese, yet Ancelotti also managed to take four points from two Champions League group stage encounters with Liverpool. Their bizarrely fluctuating form has continued under Gennaro Gattuso, with the new boss commenting upon it after notching a 1-0 win over table-topping Inter earlier this month.
Napoli have now beaten Serie A's top three teams in 2020
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1-0 vs Lazio ✅
2-1 vs Juventus ✅
1-0 vs Inter ✅The Gattuso effect pic.twitter.com/iObiGHU0N6
— Goal (@goal) February 13, 2020
“Yes, I beat Juventus, Lazio and Inter,” he noted during an interview with RAI Sport, “but the problem is that I also lost to Parma, Fiorentina and Lecce!” The contrast in those results might bode well as Napoli prepare to face Messi and Barcelona, but fans are understandably concerned at the fact the team sits ninth in the Serie A table.
Having been the major threat to Juve’s dominance of the Italian title, they now find themselves some 24 points behind the Bianconeri, closer to the relegation zone (11 points) than they are to the Champions League places (12) and the coach believes much of that is down to the attitude of his players.
“When you play against a strong team like Inter, you must respect them and give something more,” Gattuso continued following the Coppa Italia win over the Nerazzurri. “I congratulate my lads on doing that tonight, but I always want to see this attitude, as there are 17 games to go. We must respect every opponent and play with the concepts we practice during the week.”
That is a message he has continued to preach away from the cameras, dropping Brazilian midfielder Allan last weekend after being unimpressed with his approach to training. “He was walking around during our sessions and that’s not alright with me,” Gattuso told reporters, insisting that the mindset of his squad is the major factor behind their wildly fluctuating performances.
“We are struggling to explain why we don’t play consistently. Individual interpretations are not enough, we have to approach the game as a collective,” he continued. “I get nightmares because I can’t explain this situation. We cannot take anything for granted, cannot snub any opponent, because we’re paying the price for the wrong mentality. At times we look like a team, at others we fall apart at the first sign of trouble.”
That has certainly been the case, the team conceding simple goals and allowing opponents far too much space in the middle of the field. That is supported by statistics from Opta which show that while only five teams have allowed fewer shots against them than Napoli’s tally of 12.2 per game, eight have conceded fewer goals.
“He who isn’t ready to spit blood for the good of Napoli, can stay at home”.
– Gennaro Gattuso pic.twitter.com/dSuQE9zI8c
— Everything Napoli (@NapoliAndNaples) February 16, 2020
As Gattuso noted, it is in the defensive phase where his team are struggling. Only AS Roma (12.9) have won fewer tackles per game than Napoli (13.9) while only Cagliari (8.6) make fewer interceptions (9). Kalidou Koulibaly’s lengthy injury layoff hasn’t helped, but the real issue has been the midfield offering almost no protection to the backline, the Partenopei routinely watching as opponents slice through them.
Due to those frailties, the significance of Diego Demme’s arrival from RB Leipzig cannot be underestimated, a player whose Italian father named him in honour of Maradona now a key figure for Napoli in his own right. The rugged Germany international possesses the traits that his new side so sorely lack and Gattuso has pushed him into the side immediately, deploying him in the holding role which in turn allows Fabian Ruiz and Piotr Zeilinski to play in the more advanced role that each man prefers.
Indeed, it is no surprise that Napoli have won six times in Demme’s eight appearances, Gattuso happy to single him out in an interview with the Corriere dello Sport last month. “He makes difficult things easy, simplifies everything, and knows how to control the pitch,” the coach said. “He is mentally strong and his team-mates know that they can trust him.”
That has been obvious, so while Messi might be heading to the San Paolo and thinking about Maradona, it will be a very different Diego standing in his way as the man who embodies Gattuso’s new-look Napoli.
