Champions League Contenders: SSC Napoli

Since taking charge of Napoli on December 11, 2019, Gennaro Gattuso has made the Partenopei click on all cylinders, who finished seventh in the league. More importantly, they won their first trophy in six years, defeating the likes of Inter and Juventus en route to winning the Coppa Italia. Gattuso’s Napoli showed high levels of proficiency in their manipulation of opponent's positioning and succeeded in consolidating possession and creating space.

In this post, I'll be analysing their recent games and study their chances of winning the Champions League this season.

Now let's take a look at their Offensive and Defensive moments which will define their Champions League journey.

Offensive:

Napoli prefer to keep their full backs deep during build-up, in line with the deepest midfielder. This enables them to create more wide space. They have no qualms about passing backwards to restart movements; to a certain extent it is encouraged as it allows Napoli to draw the opponent deeper and regain control, as most team are reticent to commit the press as far as the goalkeeper.

Defensive:

Napoli are also very impressive out of possession and Gattuso has implemented a strong option-oriented zonal marking system. In an option-oriented zonal system the main positional reference point is the ball and space (relative to the ball) and team mates’ movements follow behind. Thus the defence will shift, press and cover depending on the position of the ball but also in anticipation of the ball’s next move as they attempt to restrict attacking possibilities.

Let's see how Ahmed Kamal, Assistant Coach - Bahrain National Team, views Napoli's season till now

I hope you enjoyed my analysis and I'm eagerly looking forward to your invaluable feedback, suggestions and ideas. Do like, share and follow the page to show your love!

Football - Analysed!