Napoli – There’s nothing to be done. Partly because the players had already gotten in the way and above all for logistical reasons: with the city invaded by tourists, the hotels full for the holidays of April 25th and May 1st around the corner and the chronic lack of an all-round sports center ‘height. Aurelio De Laurentiis had to take note of this and, barring any twists and turns, he will be forced to make an embarrassing about-face, after his threat to send Napoli into a punitive retreat until the end of the championship. For the moment, only one communication has been received by the players: appointment at Castel Volturno on Monday afternoon to resume training. The long and painful eve of Sunday’s match against Roma at Maradona should therefore begin without further shocks, after the tensions caused by the defeat of the Azzurri in the away game in Empoli.
Empoli-Napoli 1-0: Cerri beats the worst copy of the Italian champions
by our correspondent Marco Azzi
Napoli’s crisis has worsened irreversibly and at the origin of the chaos there is a reason that is gradually becoming clearer and clearer: the absence of an authoritative and credible guide, on and above all off the pitch. De Laurentiis is in fact making the wrong decision after another and has once again been caught up in the Empoli scandal, in which he had immediately thought of punishing the players with yet another punitive retirement. Then the president thought about it and realized that the indefinite closure would also have transformed the blue locker room into a powder keg, in which anarchy already reigns and there is an atmosphere of everyone against everyone. The rags thrown at the Castellani stadium also explain, with hindsight, the failure of the three coaches who took turns on the bench in the post-championship season: Garcia, Mazzarri and lastly Calzona, who failed in the arduous task of filling the extra void large left by Luciano Spalletti (and Cristiano Giuntoli).
The Empoli-Napoli report cards: Luperto ex lucid, Osimhen is not the leader
by our correspondent Marco Azzi
The team lost its only points of reference, did not recognize the new coaches as such and went haywire, paying a heavy price also for the lack of growth of the new leaders: from Di Lorenzo to Anguissa, from Kvaratskhelia to Osimhen and Politano. Some of them didn’t show enough personality, others weren’t there at all or only focused on their personal interests. Hence – beyond the sensational errors on the market and the carelessness regarding contract renewals – the free fall of the group which has just entered history with the conquest of the third Italian title.
The tragic season in which Napoli fell to Serie B with just 14 points in the standings, after having changed four coaches in vain, comes to mind with the proportions of the case. Same negative spiral and no way out for De Laurentiis, even if this time the price to pay is goodbye to the European stage.
It is serious that after about twenty years of militancy in football the president has understood little or nothing of the genesis of the scudetto, the paternity of which he has assumed with superficiality and a good dose of arrogance. It is true, in fact, that his choice to dismiss the old leaders of the Azzurri en masse – two summers ago – had proven along the way to be both courageous and triumphal. But only because Spalletti (supported very well by sporting director Giuntoli) had managed to make painless the simultaneous farewells of charismatic players such as Koulibaly, Mertens, Insigne, Ospina and Fabian Ruiz, who in the locker room and on the pitch were the points of reference for their teammates.
For this reason, the elimination of the blue group had done no damage and had on the contrary been transformed into a “plus”, with the arrival of younger and less structured players from a character point of view, who had meekly given themselves over to the safe and authoritative of Spalletti (and Giuntoli). But De Laurentiis didn’t understand this and was instead convinced that Di Lorenzo and his teammates were capable of continuing to fly high even on their own, despite the coach’s (and manager’s) farewells immediately after winning the championship. Instead, Napoli gradually sank into anarchy and found themselves defenseless in the face of difficulties, progressively losing ground. In short, nothing other than the sale of Kim: the vertical collapse with the tricolor still on the shirts cannot be explained only by the failure to acquire a strong defender. It is to be hoped that the president has finally understood this, because otherwise the future promises to be very harsh. Meanwhile, the match against Roma on Sunday at Maradona will be poisoned by yet another harsh protest from the fans. The last five matches of the championship risk becoming a via crucis.
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– 2024-05-05 08:25:20
