Milan 3-0 Napoli: Napoli don’t turn up
The starting line-ups
Milan recorded a comfortable victory over a hugely disappointing Napoli side.
Max Allegri gave Marek Jankulovski a rare start at left-back. Upfront, he used the Robinho-Pato-Ibrahimovic trio.
Walter Mazzarri played his usual XI with one exception – Ezequiel Lavezzi was unavailable, so Giuseppe Mascara started instead.
Napoli were extremely poor throughout the game. Their passing was very sloppy, they lacked drive or creativity from the centre of midfield, and Edinson Cavani couldn’t get into the game. Milan were below par in the first half, but stepped it up in the second and never looked likely to give up the lead once Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a penalty in the 48th minute.
Formations
The initial tactical match-up was interesting. As usual, Napoli used 3-4-2-1 as their ‘base’ formation, but varied it slightly to suit the opponents. Today, this meant that Walter Gargano was used higher up the pitch than usual, and Napoli often looked like a 3-3-3-1. Michele Pazienza played to the right and picked up Robinho, whilst Gargano tried to put pressure upon Milan’s three deep central midfielders.
For their part, Milan’s system was a cross between a 4-3-1-2 and a 4-3-3. Ibrahimovic was central but Pato started from the right, looking to come inside. Robinho drifted between a trequartista position and a leftish role – he would have preferred to remain central, but Pazienza’s presence made him look wide for space.
Napoli waste possession
Napoli did have the right idea from the start – they tried to switch play from flank to flank, hoping to use the pace of their wing-backs, and exploit Milan at full-back, as Spurs did so well recently. The moves broke down from the very beginning, however – a Napoli free-kick in midfield resulted in the concession of possession when they tried to play a crossfield ball, and Milan suddenly stormed forward. That set the tone for the match.
Napoli often looked down their right when they got the ball – Milan were weaker on that side of the pitch with Robinho inside, and Jankulovski was seen as the weak link at left-back. The Czech did well when called upon, however, and with Napoli having little joy down the flanks, they looked unable to create chances. In the centre, they were outnumbered as Milan’s three central midfielders sat deep without the ball, and Rino Gattuso and Matthieu Flamini should be commended for excellent, energetic performances – they shut down the wing-backs but also got back into position quickly when the ball was on the opposite flank.
Milan dominated possession (partly because of the numerical advantage in the centre, partly because Napoli have the ball to them so readily) but created little in the final third. Neither Pato nor Robinho’s attempted tricks came off, and the full-backs were reasonably conservative.
Second half
With that lack of creativity, it was rather fitting that Milan’s opener came from the penalty spot, rather than open play. Again, Napoli handed the chance to Milan – literally this time, as Salvatore Aronica needlessly used his arm when challenging Pato on the byline. Ibrahimovic thumped it home.
Napoli then spent ten minutes doing nothing when out of possession. Their natural game is to sit back, soak up pressure and sometimes switch to a 5-4-1 – but when behind, Milan simply kept the ball and didn’t commit themselves. It took a while before Napoli realised they had to try and close down, and press higher up the pitch – but it didn’t come naturally to them, and Milan passed around them in the centre of midfield.
Milan extend advantage
It became clear that Napoli didn’t really have a plan B – Juan Zuniga replaced Mascara and provided energy, but the shape was still the same. The away side couldn’t get the ball forward to Cavani, the dangerman, and it was also apparent that they lacked Lavezzi’s ability to stretch the play – in that respect, the wide forward does a similar job to Theo Walcott for Arsenal: even when he’s not playing well himself, he opens up spaces in the opposition for his teammates to work in.
Allegri took off Robinho and brought on Kevin-Prince Boateng, who provided drive from midfield – summed up by his late run for the second goal. Napoli then pushed forward more, but Pato got a third on the counter. Allegri replaced both his full-backs with fitness levels in mind, but Napoli were never a threat. Paolo Cannavaro’s header that dropped wide was their only meaningful attempt in the game.
Conclusion
Rarely can the concept of ‘big game experience’ have been such an obvious difference between two sides in a match. Milan’s veterans were up to the challenge, Napoli’s players simply looked nervous – nothing else can explain their poor use of the ball.
Napoli’s form this season against the other sides in the top 5 (Udinese, Lazio, Milan, Inter) is played five, lost five – you can’t challenge for the title with a record like that.
decent game if uncompetitve, Pato scored a beauty.Napoli are out of the title race if only because of their inability to beat any of the top 5.
What do you guys think of the standard of Serie A this year given the standard of this game, how easily Spurs beat Milan at home and given the loss of Italy’s CL spot to Germany. Just comparatively Bayern v Dortmund was a much higher standard of football.
I don’t think you can use any one game to read into the standard of a league. Having said that, the general standard of Serie A play is pretty high in my opinion. Take a look at the football that teams like Udinese and Palermo are capable of producing. Italy losing the 4th CL spot is merely down to Italian clubs not putting in anywhere near enough effort to do well in the Europa League.
Rightly said!
Losing fourth spot is nuts. Italian teams have won something like 7 of the last twenty CL’s. Germany ahve won 2. who cares about the europa league?
Let’s all remember that it’s just half-time between Spurs and Milan. Arsenal were the only home team to win, so maybe Milan can pull something out the bag. I fear our defence is too weak on the flanks though.
it’s not just one game you know – all three Italian teams in the CL lost home games in which they were favorites (I guess Inter – Bayern was the least surprising result, but it’s not like Bayern are doing especially well in their league right now, what with their 16 point deficit from first place).
In the Europa League, Italy had 4 teams in the group stages. 3 of them got knocked out by teams from significantly smaller leagues: Lech Poznan > Juventus, Sparta Prague > Palermo, Metalist Kharkiv > Sampdoria, and Napoli barely finished in 2nd place over Steaua Bucharest and FC Utrecht. And some of these teams aren’t even challenging for the title in their domestic league – Lech Poznan are in 8th place right now, while Metalist Kharkiv are in 3rd place, but with a 14 point deficit.
probably correct in terms of the standard of the teams, but probably incorrect in terms of the standard of players. e.g pato, ibrahimovic, cavani, eto’o, sneijder etc
Pato was superb tonight with his all-round link up play and movement. His eye for goal was never in question. The Van Bommel, Nesta, Thiago Silva spine is extremely solid and all are so composed on the ball bringing it out of the back so well (albeit Thiago did hit a few too many long balls in the first half).
ZM did you also notice that Dossena was much more reserved than Maggio and seemed much more focused on defence than providing width going forward? Was that down to Pato playing wide and attempting to pin him back? I think I put that down as a consequence of the Abate and Gattuso combination down the right hand side being so solid defensively that Dossena didn’t seem to bother trying to get the better of them. Say what you want about Abate’s crossing skills, but the man is becoming a beast defensively against pacey wide players.
i think is more of napoli being a big game flop as a team than milan playing well. napoli simply din turn up as zonal marking says and as a milan supporter i cant help but be concerned with robinho, who almost nvr turn up in crunch battles. he was rightfully substituted by boateng, whom i felt he is underated. good sub by allegri i feel as i also think that boateng was subbed in to provide more of a height presence, since milan midfeild is quite poor in the air with the exception of ambrosini.
The score is correct for the match which pleases fans but i am actually quite annoyed by ibrahimovic complaining to his teammates for not being to feed him properly. at the end of the match he was seen arguing with pato for not giving him a through ball in which he himself is in the offside position. He needs to fix himself this.
Nxt match is juventus and as a team is the exact opposite of napoli, driven in ‘big matches’ hope milan big egos will not get fooled by crisis striken juventus and will do the job professionally.
vs juventus(4312) abbiati abate nesta t.silva jankulovski/urby gattuso van bommel boateng cassano pato ibrahimovic.
I heard Flamini’s, Gattuso’s, and Van Bommel’s name a lot. I barely heard Gargano’s and Pazienza’s. I didn’t really hear any Napoli names.
That about sums it up.
The penalty was extremely soft in my opinion. I would like FIFA to revise the handball rule for moments like those. It is absurd that a penalty is given for a handball when there was no goal-scoring opportunity denied.
How can you be certain no goalscoring opportunity was denied? He punched the ball out of play when there was a Milan player there available to potentially keep it in. A silly foul to concede, it was a soft penalty but the rules were fine in this case.
I did not think it was intentional.
Very disappointed to see Napoli perform so poorly as they’ve been one of the most surprisingly good teams this year and have used a formation that is very different from anything I see when watching the EPL. Only Liverpool have used anything like a back three this year.
As someone that thinks very highly of the system is was disappointing to see the team lose not because of a failing of tactics but because the team looking shell-shocked and nervous throughout the game. Like you said, you can’t win the title if you can’t beat your rivals for the trophy. This seems like a team that has just arrived a year too early and with the added experience will be better equipped to challenge next year.
i hope so too; it is really refreshing to see a team try and undergo a radical change to their formation in regards the rest of the league but we will have to see if it is just a flash in the pan or a real change. Unfortunately Italy has lost a apalce int eh Champions League dur to UEFAS coefficents so it may take longer now to see this system lead Napoli into the top reaches of Europe…
Have enjoyed watching Napoli so far this season, playing a unique style compared to a lot of Europe it makes for a usually entertaining game but was severely disappointed today. Sloppy all around, but Cavani looked lost without Lavezzi’s driving runs forward. But was also very disappointed with Hamsik. Sounds like he is regarded as a very good young talent and thought that maybe without Lavezzi there today that it would give him more opportunity to take control of the game but it seemed when i was watching that both he and Cavani went hiding when Napoli needed them most. (Hamsik’s name wasn’t mentioned once in the article, a sign as to how poor he was)
Also the crossing from Napoli today was woeful. Too often they settled for wide/deep crosses into the box (and i understand they have a capable target in Cavani to aim for) but they were so disjointed from front to back that their under hit crosses would be cleared and almost always land at a Milan midfielders feet and they could settle possession. And in Pato’s goal (if i remember correctly) came directly from another under hit Napoli cross cleared out and they countered. I really think they struggled with not having a Plan B not only in the shape but in their style of play.
disappointed it didn’t out the way i expected. like zonalmarking, napoli didn’t turn up from the very start.
you can sense napoli has quite a inferiority complex when playing against milan. and that’s surprising because tottenham hotspur was not fazed by them. and i dare say napoli is better or on par with spurs.
when i read that their record against the top teams were poor, it just confirms my belief that napoli definitely is not among the elite, but just better than the rest.
I really don’t like Mark van Bommel, but he had a superb game last night.
The title is right to the point!Napoli was absent
Other than that Milan needs the second-half Pato in London if they are to have chances against Tottenham and I’d say in their 4-3-1-2 the ‘1′ behind the forwards seems to work better when he is a midfielder that’s attacking and provides forward runs from midfield(like Boateng) rather than a forward who drops deeper and tries to use his trickery(like Robinho)
“is played five, lost five – you can’t challenge for the title with a record like that.”
Shades of Shearer and Hansen’s analysis on that. Not true, in any wild sense of the imagination.
As a Napoli supporter I must quote we’ve been quite non-existant in this match, although Mazzarri clearly set-up his team to play deep and go counter-attacking and the penalty given in second half was controversial to say the least, since there were at least two attacking fouls from Ibrahimovic and Pato in the same action.
Anyway, Milan’s first place is the clearcut demonstration of Italian football crisis. They are far from playing the best football but their forwards are top-quality.
What do you chaps think of Milan’s chances against Spurs next week? I hope Allegri starts Pato in an aggressive formation. Surely Robinho needs to sit this game out, he contributes nothing. I think a front three of Boateng, Pato and Ibra is far more likely to make a mark.
At the back the best combination, in my book, is Abate Nest Silva Jankulovski (although both full backs are weak, they may be the least weak pairing.)
I know he is cuptied for the Arsenal game but, Emanuelson was very comfortable when he came on last night. I also was very impressed with Abate, he is actually becoming a better defensive player than he is an attacking one.
I hope so, it;s his inconsistency (the worst thing a defender can be) that frightens me.
Next season, with Emmanuelson, Cassano and Van Bommel, and hopefully some defensive improvements Milan should be well set for the CL. If Milan can get Cassano, Pato and Ibra firing, maybe bringing Kaka back to link play, then they could be a force again.
But, to repeat myself, not without spending dosh at the back. I’d love to see Bastos and Santon sign!
Makes you wonder what Milan could’ve been doing if they hadn’t of backed out of the Aly Cissokho tranfer(stating “dental issues”?) He’s doing fine at Lyon.
Van Bommel is not gauranteed back next season. He’s only on loan.
He’s not on loan, he terminated his Bayern contract and is on a 6-month contract now. He will decide what he will do come summer.
honestly i dont think napoli are as good as everyone thinks, they have been very lucky in serie A and cavani has pretty much taken them to 3rd all by himself. they create very little chances, even against the small teams, and they only attack with 3 players which is why they get so dominated against the big teams giving them good reasons to go all out against them. for napoli i believe it is all downhill from now on.
I’ve been a skeptic all season too. Yet they continue to score plenty of goals — only four other teams have scored more — and keep the other team from scoring — only two other teams have conceded fewer.
As for Milan, I think any question marks over their defense have been answered. They have conceded the fewest number of goals in the league. Meanwhile, they have scored the most, along with Inter and Udinese. They are the best team.
Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri refused to blame a penalty decision against defender Salvatore Aronica for his side’s 3-0 loss to…
Something that someone needs to learn….right Fergie?
Nice to see that since Italian teams have gotten away from buying the refs off, they’re starting to buy titles by buying their rival teams off.
I strongly disagree with the people asking to keep Robinho out of the starting lineup against Tottenham. First of all I think he does a lot better than a lot of people give him credit for, but even more importantly, what midfield are they supposed to bring in that case?
For the midfield, with the cup-tied and injured players, they are most likely down to Flamini, Boateng, Seedorf, Strasser and Merkel. Seedorf has been absolutely awful lately, especially when played as a midfielder; against Udinese he was booed off by the home fans. Strasser/Merkel are simply not good enough, or experienced enough, for a CL playoff.
So I’m guessing that Milan will play:
Abbiati; Antonini/Jankulovski, Yepes, Nesta, Abate; Flamini, T.Silva, Boateng; Robinho; Ibra, Pato
Mostly because the available players don’t give them much of a choice.