In the summer of 2009, Fabio Quagliarella was coming off his best seasonal as a professional. Although the (then) 26 year old managed only 13 Serie A goals, he scored 8 more goals in 11 UEFA Cup matches for Udinese. Internationally he had been a squad member of Italy’s Euro 2008 side managed by Roberto Donadoni, who had recently taken over his hometown club Napoli. Quags was in the prime of his career, and the only thing left was for him to complete a dream move home to reunite with his former Italy boss. When Napoli brought him home, there was euphoria among the fans. But as so often happens in calcio, a fairy tale story became a bad movie script as Quags was shipped out to Juventus after just one season with his beloved azzurri.

Exactly where did things start going wrong? Most likely with the transfer amount former d.g. Pierpaolo Marino shelled out to bring Quagliarella home. Udinese was very smart and sold Quags at his peak market value. But at the same time, they took advantage of a weak negotiatior in Marino who was desperate to improve on the previous season’s 12th place finish. The bottom line was that Quags absolutely had to come home to Napoli, and there was no way Marino was going to let a couple of million euro stand in the way.

So Fabio Quagliarella was sold to Napoli for about 18 million euros. The transfer amount was never released, but it was probably at least 16 million euros. If you look at Quagliarella’s career though, Napoli appeared to have paid considerably more than market value. This was because Quags would be more popular with the fans than others players, and second because it was assumed that he would post huge numbers playing for his hometown team. He had a very good season with Udinese, and he was expected to score even more goals that would send Napoli into Europe.

The transfer fee ended up being a heavy issue because the following season Quags didn’t really improve on his career best season with Udinese. His Serie A goal dropped from 13 to 11, and with Napoli not playing in Europe there were no other chances to shine. In two Coppa Italia matches Quags couldn’t find the net, and it was symptomatic of his whole season – when Napoli needed the big goal in a big game, Quagliarella’s performance often left something to be desired. Look at the calibre of teams that his goals came against…

Goals 1 & 2: at home to Livorno, week 2
Goal 3: at home to Bologna, week 8
Goals 4 & 5: at home to Bari, week 15
Goal 6: at home to Chievo, week 17
Goal 7: away to Atalanta, week 18

The second half of the season continues much the same way: all of Quags’s goal came against teams in the bottom half of the table. No goals for #27 in matches against Inter, AC Milan, Juventus, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Palermo etc. Also, from week 3 to week 14 he managed just one goal in twelve weeks. Based on last season his market value dropped from what it was before the season. Now it seems like Napoli had paid way too much.

Then there’s also the issue of Quagliarella being the highest earner on the team. If a player is going to make more than his teammates, he should be as good if not slightly better week in, week out. But too often last season Quagliarella wasn’t creating much offence when he wasn’t scoring. It reached a point where Mazzarri had to consider leaving him out of the starting lineup when he was healthy. I believe this happend for a game or two over the course of the season.

Even if a team’s star player accepts a spot on the bench, it creates huge problems when your top earner isn’t playing. Here is Mazzarri’s explanation for Quagliarella being shipped out. According to Mazzarri, Quags was pampered, and eventually being a hometown player couldn’t hide the fact that his performance on the field wasn’t what everyone was hoping for.

Speaking of Mazzarri, the managerial change didn’t help Quags at all. He had worked with Donadoni in the past and that was presumably a key factor in the timing of his move. Once Donadoni was fired, you can’t help but think that a player like Quags might have felt some responsibility for the firing. True, the entire team didn’t play well for Donadoni, but as one of the leaders Quags also led the way in not living up to expectations early in the season.

But when you look at expectations, you have to go back to the grossly inflated price Marino paid for him. This didn’t help Quagliarella one bit, in fact it put loads of pressure on him to justify his value. There was also an assumption that he would feel more comfortable at the San Paolo than anywhere else, and his career would take off. Since the story, had it unfolded as everyone hoped, resembled a fairy tale, it ignored the realities of being a professional athelete.

All of these issues combined to make it very difficult for Quagliarella to succeed. There was an enormous burden on him to score regularly to send Napoli fans into dreamland, but when this didn’t happen there were reasons to question him. Why was his transfer fee so high? Why is he Napoli’s top earner? Why can’t he score against top clubs? To summarize, underneath the surface the conditions of his move made it very easy to fail, and difficult to succeed.

And how did he end up at Juve? The Bianconeri were short on forwards, and perhaps they were attracted by his 45 minutes of greatness in the Slovakia WC game. They could also afford to overpay for his services just as Napoli did. De Laurentiis and Bigon saw a chance to correct a business mistake by Marino, and in the end the move went through. I don’t like saying this, but he may end up playing a little better for Juve than he did for Napoli. It’s a bizarre movie script that De Laurentiis the producer would never make a movie of. So if it’s fairy tales that Napoli fans want, just look at Gianluca Grava last year. Unlike Quags, he was never in a position to fail.

So it seems like as long as Mazzarri is manager, Quags won’t be returning home from Juve. Let’s try to forget all the bad stuff and remember the passion he brought whenever he played.

The closing day(s) of the summer mercato saw four new players arrive. Two of these were much anticipated moves: signing Hassan Yebda from Benfica on a one year loan + option, and buying Jose Ernesto Sosa from Bayern for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be anywhere from 2.5-4 million euros. Two moves came as a surprise: Nicalao Dumitra (co-ownership with Empoli) and Edilson Cribari from Lazio. Several players, all of them surplus, left for new opportunities: Rinaudo, Dalla Bona, De Zerbi, Pia, and Zalayeta.

Where to begin? The biggest name of all might be Sosa, who has 6 caps for Argentina and scored the first goal in a 3-2 friendly win over Costa Rica in January 2010. Not even Lavezzi has a senior goal for Argentina.

Sosa and his girlfriend Carolina at Oktoberfest

Sosa is a 25 year old attacking midfielder who rose through the youth ranks of Estudiantes to become an important player for their senior team. He made 143 appearances for Estudiantes over 5 years, scoring 12 goals. In 2007 he earned his first callup to the Argentina squad and earned a move to German giants Bayern Munich.

To label Sosa as a failure at Bayern is a bit harsh. In 35 matches over three years Sosa had just two goals, which is very similar to Cigarini’s numbers for Napoli last year. When old school disciplinary manager Louis van Gaal took over at Bayern in 2009, it was apparent that a player like Sosa didn’t fit into his plans. Sosa was loaned back to Estudiantes, where he scored 3 goals in 17 matches and was called up, along with many other, by Maradona for Argentina friendlies.

If Sosa feels comfortable in Napoli and fits in well to Mazzarri’s system, he could be a steal. The only question is, what position will he play? He seems to have the same role as Hamsik, but Mazzarri might try to play him in centre mid the same as Cigarini. I’ve never actually seen this player so I can’t comment on what his best position might be, but he may end up competing with Hamsik for playing time. Here’s Catania’s President Pietro Lo Monaco explaining how Sosa ended up at Napoli and not Catania.

Yebda is a different situation: he’s clearly a defensive midfielder and will compete with Pazienza and/or Gargano for a starting spot. Yebda is 26 and spent last season with Portsmouth in the EPL, but strangely didn’t make even the bench for the F.A. Cup Final. Although Yebda playls for Algeria he is born in France, and actually played for France from U-16 through to U-19 before switching to his parents’ country. It was at Le Mans that Yebda made a name for himself and in 2008 he went to Benfica on a Bosman.

Yebda’s career highlight is probably playing in all 3 of Algeria’s matches at the World Cup. Although Algeria didn’t score a goal, they drew England 0-0, lost to the U.S. 1-0 on a 90th minute goal, and lost to Slovenia 1-0 on a goalkeeping error with about 10 minutes left. Yebda played in centre midfield and by all accounts had a fine tournament.

Very late on deadline day Napoli brought in the Brazilian Edilson Cribari from Lazio as a direct replacement for Rinaudo. Here is Bari’s version of what happened, as Rinaudo was supposed to go to Bari until the last minute. For those of you who are disappointed that Napoli brought in a 30 year old foreigner instead of a promising young Italian, keep in mind the objective was to replace Rinaudo. I’d be surprised if Cribari makes a huge impact, although he’s the type of battle warrior that Mazzarri seems to like.

Maybe the most interesting move is Napoli picking up 18 year old Nicalao Dumitru as part of a co-ownership deal with Empoli. The Italian (with a Romanian father and Brazilian mother) is now Napoli’s youngest player and it will be intersting to see how Mazzarri uses him, if at all. He is listed as a replacement for the departed Fabio Quagliarella (more on him next post) but do you really put a young player ahead of Lucarelli on the dpeth chart?

I realize the additions this summer – Cavani, Lucarelli, Yebda, Sosa, Cribari, and Dumitru – aren’t really what Napoli fans were expecting. Aside from Cavani, none of those players are really world-class even though Yebda and Sosa have played for their national teams and Dumitru is in the Italy U-19 squad. But if you look at Napoli’s roster, it’s just as strong as last season, plus many of the fringe players have been cleared out. Looking at the long term, Napoli is in a fairly decent position. If the teams qualifies for Europe again, great. If not, there is the financial flexibility and room on the roster to improve. The last two things didn’t exist under Marino, and Bigon has done some nice work to fix those problems.

Also, Yebda and Sosa at 26 and 25 are still young and if the conditions are right both of them could turn into important players for the club. I don’t think it’s fair to judge them right away, as it will take them some time to adjust to Napoli. This has nothing to do with being foreigners, but it’s because Napoli’s core has been together for a few seasons now and there is some consistency with the key players and how they are used.

In the next couple of months I’m hoping to find a depth chart for Napoli’s on-field system, hopefully as good as the one I posted in the middle of last season. With Dossena and Cavani now regulars, Napoli’s starting 11 is only slightly better than it was last season, but there is now some depth in attack with Lucarelli and Dumitru and midfield with Zuniga, Sosa, and Yebda. Would Quagliarella have accepted a bench role the way Lucarelli is? I’m still concerned about our defence, but I will just accept some things that are out of my control. According to rumours Genoa asked about Santacroce, and Napoli set the price tag at 8 million euros. If he’s worth that much, why not play him a bit??

Finally, a couple of notes on the blog. With a large international break before Napoli’s next match – it’s the posticipo on Sunday, September 12 at home to Bari – I’m hoping to bring in the new Disqus commenting system which you might have seen on a few of the other Serie A blogs. I think it has more visual appeal than the current system, and it allows you to post replies to specific comments easier. It might take some getting used to, but it will help the blog get more exposure.

Speaking of exposure, it looks like we now have more readers who are starting to comment more frequently. To the people who consider themselves “long time readers” but comment never or rarely, please join the party. I know it can be difficult, as some of us are hardcore and might have different opinions, but please share your thoughts. Every once in a while I find my perspective changing because of insightful comments from people who are casual Napoli fans or who support a completely other team. Outsiders’ opinions can be just as valuable as insiders. So to readers new and old – keep up the comments, and hopefully everyone will like the new system once we get it in place.

Fiorentina 1-1 Napoli
The azzurri have a lot of work to do before they can challenge for the Champions League. Their one goal came courtesy of a referee error, and from the midway point of the first half Fiorentina controlled the game and probably would have won if Vargas stays on the field. Fiorentina won the midfield, and Napoli’s back three was under pressure for large spells of the second half. In light of all of this, I’m really happy with a point because Napoli didn’t deserve one.

Over to you Mr. Auriemma:

I don’t have too much to say about the Cavani phantom goal. Clearly the referees got it wrong, but after so many bad breaks last season it’s nice to see one go in Napoli’s favour. I should also note that the ref made a mistake by not giving Kroldrup a second yellow for a brutal challenge on Lavezzi just after the hour mark. If the game had been called correctly, at that point it would have been 1-0 Fiorentina with Napoli playing up a man for the last 25+ minutes. It’s possible that the contest would have ended 1-1 anyways.

Napoli caught another massive break when Vargas was sent of in the 67th minute for a headbutt on Campagnaro. It wasn’t much of a headbutt – certainly not Zidane on Materazzi – but it’s still a red card and Napoli should have used this opportunity to regain control of the match. Instead, Manuele Blasi joined Vargas on the sidelines about five minutes later. Blasi was a liability today, not just for the red card but because he wasn’t doing much even before getting sent off. I’m wondering why Mazzarri didn’t take off both Blasi and Campagnaro – two players with notoriously short tempers – after they each picked up a yellow.

Let’s take a look at why Vargas was so important to Fiorentina. With a 4-2-3-1, the two wingers pose a problem for Napoli’s defence. Who is going to mark Vargas and Marchionni? If Maggio and Dossena drop back, they spend the whole game defending and will have trouble getting forward. In that situation the formation turns into a 5-2-2-1, so Maggio and Dossena can’t mark Vargas and Marchionni. The task would then fall to Napoli’s outside defenders, Campagnaro and Aronica. Cannavaro is responsible for Gilardino in the middle, but now there is another problem: who marks d’Agostino? All of Napoli’s defenders are marking someone else. Maggio and Dossena can’t really move into the middle, so it would have to be one of Blasi or Gargano. But if one of the central midfielders drops back, it leaves the other to compete with Montolivo and Zanetti for control of the central mid. This new problem can be solved by either Lavezzi or Hamsik dropping back, and that’s what happened as Lavezzi did a lot more defending than he normally does. But having Lavezzi drop back takes away from the attack, and the result is that Napoli could not get forward or keep possession for much of the second half. Napoli’s 3-4-2-1 system was overmatched by the 4-2-3-1, and if not for the Vargas sending off Fiorentina likely would have gone on to win the match handily.

So what was Mazzarri doing to solve these problems? Absolutely nothing. If you look at the d’Agostino goal, he was wide open. Cannavaro was closing in on Gilardino, so the Fiorentina striker simply laid the ball of for d’Agostino to smash home. The key thing about this play is that before the ball was played into Napoli’s defence, Aronica was actually marking d’Agostino, who had drifted a bit to the right. But when d’Agostino cut inside to combine with Gilardino, Aronica could not follow him and leave Marchionni and the left flank exposed. So d’Agostino was wide open and hit a well-taken goal.

Napoli’s tactical inferiority was saves by two huge events: the Cavani phantom goal and the Vargas sending off. Once Vargas was sent off Napoli should have readjusted, removing Campagnaro for Zuniga and Blasi for Maiello. But this didn’t happen, and five minutes after the sending off Blasi was late and clumsy and sat the rest of the game.

But as I said before, Blasi wasn’t doing much even before the red card. Napoli’s four man midfield was overmatched by Fiorentina’s five man midfield of Vargas-d’Agostino-Marchionni-Montolivo-Zanetti. These five players had the time and the space to set up attacks, and it really put Napoli’s defence under a lot of pressure. Even before the two red cards, Gilardino had a golden chance to put the Viola up 2-1 and I think if he had taken that chance it would have been lights out for Napoli.

So while I don’t like the performance, and a number of Napoli players didn’t play well, a point away to Fiorentina is like a gift from the gods. Mazzarri has to make adjustments, and with Blasi’s performance you can see why Napoli brought in Yebda and Sosa. The absence of Pazienza was really big today, but even though he’s an upgrade on Blasi Napoli still would have faced the same tactical problems.

Here are le pagelle. I’m a bit harsh on some players, but Fiorentina did a really good job of exposing Napoli’s weaknesses.

De Sanctis: 6.5 One of Napoli’s better players
Campagnaro: 5.5 Struggled to match Vargas’ pace
Cannavaro: 6.0 Nearly gave away a penalty for a block in the box
Aronica: 6.0 Maybe Napoli’s best defender, which is really sad
Maggio: 6.0 Good going forward, but should have defended more
Blasi: 4.5 Absolutely terrible – not an elite Serie A player anymore
Gargano: 6.5 Did well in an outnumbered midfield
Dossena: 7.0 Napoli’s best player. Defended and attacked well
Hamsik: 6.0 Needs to find his shooting boots again
Lavezzi: 6.5 Good job coming back, needs more help on offence
Cavani: 6.0 Average considering his goal never went in

That’s pretty much all I have to say for now. Next week is a home game against Bari, who beat Juve 1-0 at the San Nicola. Before then I plan on doing a couple of posts, first on the Quags move to Juve and then introducing Napoli’s newest signings, Hassan Yebda and Jose Ernesto Sosa.

My advice to Napoli fans: try to forget all of the negatives, and be happy with a gift of a point.

This was supposed to be two separate posts, but I ended up being quite busy yesterday and I couldn’t even do one. So about five hours before Napoli kicks off their Serie A campaign, here is a brief preview for the Fiorentina match – and after that I predict the top 10 teams in Serie A. These predictions were made prior to yesterdays matches, and might contain a surprise or two.

Fiorentina is missing a number of key players. Jovetic is injured, while defender Alessandro Gamberini is suspended. Influential Argentine midfielder Mario Santana is out, and so is Serbian midfielder Adem Ljajic.

New signing Gaetano d’Agostino is expected to play trequartista in a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Gilardino as the targetman.

Fiorentina probable lineup: Frey – De Silvestri, Natale, Kroldrup, Pasqual – Montolivo, Zanetti – Marchionni, d’Agostino, Vargas – Gilardino.

Fiorentina’s defence is going through a bit of a transition after losing longtime servant Dario Dainelli last season. With Gamberini’s suspension he’s replaced by Cesare Natali in the starting lineup. On the right veteran Gianluca Comotto will be challenged by De Silvestri for a starting spot. The Viola are strong on the left, with the combination of Manuel Pasqual (former Napoli target) and Juan Manuel Vargas well-established.

It’s well known that keeper Sebastien Frey has bailed out Fiorentina many times with world class saves, and it begs the question as to how good the defence is? With deep-lying playmaker Riccardo Montolivo and 33 year old Cristian Zanetti sitting in front of the defence, it will be interesting to see how and where teams attack Fiorentina this season. They might need some more great performances from Frey if they want to return to the success of the Prandelli era.

Except for Pazienza who is suspended, Napoli is expected to name the same starting lineup from Thursday’s 2-0 win in Sweden. Blasi should partner Gargano in the centre midfield.

Napoli probably lineup: De Sanctis – Grava, Canna, Aronica – Maggio, Blasi, Gargano, Dossena – Hamsik – Lavezzi, Cavani

New signing Christian Lucarelli will be on the bench although he isn’t match fit. Look for Lavezzi and Cavani to play the entire 90 minutes unless one of them gets injured or Napoli has a lead late in the match.

Here are Mazzarri’s thoughts on the game as well as his approach to the whole season.

“I strongly wanted to remain at Napoli, despite the fact that I had other offers, to grow alongside this squad and this club.”

I’d love to know what offers Mazzarri had? Regardless, he’s managed to erase the period of disappointment that started with Reja and continued with Donadoni, and De Laurentiis will support Mazzarri in any way possible – including shipping out a fan favourite to a close rival. I’ll write more on the Quags move to Juve midweek, but for now the focus is on Fiorentina.

To be honest I don’t know what to expect this match. Napoli have already played a couple of competitive games and could be a little sharper than Fiorentina. But the Viola have a number of dangerous attacking players, and it will be more of a test for Napoli’s back three than Elfsborg. Last season this fixture ended 1-0 for Napoli on a late Maggio goal in one of Mazzarri’s first matches, but we might see some more goals this time. I won’t make any score predictions, but it should be an interesting encounter with plenty of talking points after.

As for the Serie A season, I can’t help but make predictions. My scudetto winner might be a little bit of a surprise, but I really can’t do any worse than last season when I picked Juve only to see them finish 7th. So once again I will take a risk and choose a side that not many people will have as the best team in Serie A.

1. AC Milan

With the addition of Ibrahimovic, I think Milan just have too many offensive weapons. Pato, Ibra, Borriello, Inzaghi, and Ronaldinho bring different skills to the field, and they should score plenty of goals this seasson. New manager Max Allegri did a great job of building a team at Cagliari, and I think he’s ready to take on the project of returning Milan among the elite teams in Europe.

2, Inter
3. Roma

Another reason I picked Milan is that Benitez and Ranieri have a track record of not winning their domestic leagues. Liverpool under Benitez were great in Europe but never really challenged for the Premier League, and Ranieri has a history of finishing 2nd with some really good sides. With Inter I think their run of scudetti has to end. I said the same thing last year and they won the treble, but Mourinho really is the special one. At the beginning of the season his influence on Inter will still be felt, but as the season goes along Benitez the tinkerman will take over and I can’t see Inter consistently doing the best in Serie A. By the end of the season Benitez will know who to play in big CL matches, but he never mastered the EPL and I have to pick Inter for 2nd.

Roma have a tinkerman of their own, and although I really like Ranieri as a manager I wouldn’t consider him one of Europe’s elite (well, neither is Allegri which is why many people aren’t picking Milan.) Roma have the squad to compete for the title, but like so many of Ranieri’s previous teams I see them finishing short.

4. Napoli

I’m not sure if this is a surprise pick for the Champions League. Some people believe Napoli can compete for the scudetto, but I don’t think they’re at the same level as the Milan clubs and Roma just yet. We do know that De Laurentiis will invest in the club if necessary, and I expect Napoli to get off to a good start. By the middle of the season, Serie A will take priority over the Europa League, and I can see Napoli finishing at least as well as last year’s top 6.

5. Juventus
6. Sampdoria

With Bonucci and Chiellini in the centre of defence it really doesn’t matter how healthy Buffon is. Juve are much better defensivly than in previous seasons, and Delneri has overachieved in his two previous Serie A seasons with Atalanta and Sampdoria. I expect Samp to fall a little this season, but Pazzini is maybe Italy’s best striker and Di Carlo, like Allegri, is another manager who did a great job building a smaller team and should do well with the resources at Samp.

7. Genoa
8. Palermo
9. Fiorentina
10. Lazio

It breaks my heart to predict an 8th place finish for Palermo, but I don’t like the way they sold two key players in Cavani and Kjaer. They still have a great starting lineup, but I don’t think they have the depth to compete for a Champions League spot. If the young players like Pastore, Sirigu, and Hernandez step up, Palermo should finish higher but there’s a lot of parity in Serie A from 4th to 10th and some teams will have off seasons. Genoa should improve on last season after adding a number of players, including Eduardo, Ranocchia, Veloso, and Zuculini. They have good depth, but a number of their veterans are starting to age and I don’t think they can compete with the best Serie A teams. Either way, they added players which in my analysis puts them ahead of Palermo. They could even finish higher.

Rounding out the top 10 are Fiorentina and Lazio. Both teams had off seasons last year and should improve. Knowing Edy Reja quite well I can’t see Lazio reaching Europe, while Fiorentina are a wildcard – a new manager and lots of strong players, but they don’t have the depth of the elite teams and it may take them a while to reach the heights of the Prandelli era.

So that’s it for my predictions. I know I’ve ignored 10 Serie A teams but sadly I don’t have enough time to follow every Serie A team closely, especially the ones that have moved up from Serie B. Cesena surprised yesterday by earning a 0-0 draw at the Olimpico, so there’s just as much parity at the bottom of Serie A as from 4th to 10th, just not the same level of quality.

I will post a live stream as soon as I can find one, and I hope you’ll join me here on the Offside as Napoli’s Serie A season kicks off in Firenze. Forza Napoli, and as always check back after for a recap with lots of discussion.

Yesterday’s 2-0 win at Elfsborg proved that Napoli can play a smart and efficient road game, and more importantly score a couple of goals when needed. Cavani’s brace late in the first half killed off the tie and allowed Napoli to coast for the last 45 minutes, giving players like Maggio and Hamsik a bit of rest for Sunday. Napoli will now go into a group with Liverpool, Steaua Bucharest, and Dutch side FC Utrecht.

The calendar has already been determined, with Napoli opening September 16 at home to Utrecht. Here is the schedule in full, with the all but the final match taking place on a Thursday:

September 16: Napoli vs. Utrecht
September 30: Steau vs. Napoli
October 21: Napoli vs. Liverpool
November 4: Liverpool vs. Napoli
December 2: Utrecht vs. Napoli
(Wed) December 15: Napoli vs. Steaua

At first glance this group is neither too easy nor too difficult. Conventional wisdom says that Napoli and Steaua will battle for second place behind group winners Liverpool, but upsets do happen and I can see Napoli finishing anywhere from 1st to 3rd. It has a good mix of teams for Napoli – one European giant who has played regularly in the Champions League this decade, a big European club who regularly appear in either the Champions League or Europa League, and finally FC Utrecht. I’m not all that familiar with the Dutch club, who finished the 2009-10 Eredivisie in 7th place and did not have any goalscorer in the league’s top 10.

This is a good time for Napoli to play Liverpool, who fell out of the Champions League places last season and are distancing themselves from their recent peak years when they made two CL finals vs. AC Milan. Since then, American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. have been reluctant to invest the kind of money necessary to compete for the CL every season.

Steaua Bucharest is a bit of a wildcard. In the 1980’s they became the first team from Eastern Europe to win the European Cup, defeating Barcelona on penalties in 1986 after a 0-0 tie. The penalty shootout was remarkable in that only two of the eight kicks were scored, with Barcelona missing all four kicks to give Steaua a 2-0 shootout win. The club would reach the European Cup final again in 1989, this time with young players Gheorghe Hagi and Dan Petrescu. Steaua were demolished 4-0 by a powerful AC Milan side.

Currently Steaua play more often in Europe’s second tier competition, although they appeared in the CL in 2006-07 and 2007-08. In the year before those CL teams Steaua reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, where they lost to Middlesborough in the last minute. Currently the Romanian side are ranked 40th in the world, sandwiched in between Alkmaar and Lille.

That’s a primer on Napoli’s European competition, but back to the match. If you didn’t catch the game, here are the highlights. Welcome back Raffaelle Auriemma:

There are several things I really like about Napoli’s approach:

1) The team didn’t play at a hysterical pace, trying to outrun Elfsborg on every occasion. They were composed and their superior skills were evident.

2) Napoli was more clinical in attack, creating fewer chances but better quality ones. Cavani was lethal and his two strikes demonstrate that if you can finish your chances you don’t need too many.

3) The team defended better than the first leg, allowing Elfsborg lower quality chances mostly from outside the box. De Sanctis was tested but he didn’t need to come up with any heroic saves.

Even though Cavani was clearly man of the match, every Napoli player was at least average or above average. Each player did what he was supposed to do to for Napoli to win: the defenders defended, the midfield defended or attacked as necessary, and the strikers got chances on net. It wasn’t a dominating performance, but it was a very good one with all the players on the same page.

The only disappointment is that Mazzarri did not find any time for primavera striker Camillo Ciano who was named to the lineup ahead of Lucarelli. Hamsik and Lavezzi came off, but were replaced by Blasi and Campagnaro respectively.

Aronica started in place of Campagnaro, and could find himself starting again on Sunday. Overall, our left side had a strong game. Although Dossena didn’t shine offensively, he worked well defensively and when Elfsborg were looking for a consolation goal in the second half they went down the other side of the field more often than not. Napoli fans often complain about Gargano and Pazienza, but they were strong in the middle, giving the Elfsborg midfielders very little time on the ball. The team performance was so much more encouraging than the first leg win at the San Paolo.

I also can’t hide from the Quagliarella situation – the move is now official and many Napoli fans are upset. I will ask just one question: if Napoli had sold a player identical to Quags but who wasn’t from Campania, would you be as upset? I think fans are upset mostly because Quagliarella is a hometown boy and someone the fans can identify with. Last seaon wasn’t his greatest season, and although there was the occasional well-taken goal he wasn’t as effective as his price tag and reputation suggest.

I’m not saying I’m happy with Quags going to Juve because I’m not, but from a business point of view it does make at least a little bit of sense. First, I think Cavani is a better finisher than Quags, so Fabio likely would have seen a lot of time on the bench this season. Second, if the numbers are correct Napoli is going to recover most of their large investment in Quags, assuming Juve purchase him for E 10 million after spending E 4 million or so to loan him for one season.

Alex, you can do a separate post on the Quagliarella move anytime. My next post will be a preview of the Fiorentina match on Sunday, which will take place at night because August in Italy is too hot for day games.

And I can’t wait for September 16 and Napoli’s first group match at home against the lowest ranked team in the group

Napoli fans, let’s put aside the rumours of Quagliarella going to Juventus for a moment and focus on what could be a great night for Napoli. The Vesuviani head to Boras and the artificial turf home field of Elfsborg with a 1-0 lead from the first leg. Importantly, Napoli didn’t concede any away goals so if the azzurri can sneak an away goal tonight Elfsborg will have to win by 3-1 or greater to advance.

Elfsborg is expected to make three important changes from the first leg. Keeper Jesper Christiansen, a protagonist from last week, has a hamstring problem and will be replaced by the Australian Ante Covic. Stefan Ishazaki, who injured himself in the first leg, is also unavailable. Finally, Jon Jonsson’s yellow card last week makes him suspended for the second leg. Ishazaki and Jonsson will be replaced by Ericsson and Karlsson respectively.

Elfsborg probable lineup: Covic – Klarstrom, Lucic, Karlsson, Floren – Larsson, Svensson, Mobaeck – Ericsson, Keene – Andic

Napoli’s big lineup change is the omission of Quagliarella, who will be replaced by Cavani with Ciano as the only striker to make the substitute’s bench. Defensively Aronica will start in place of Campagnaro, as the Argentine is likely rested for Sunday’s match against the viola.

Napoli probably lineup: De Sanctis – Grava, Cannavaro, Aronica – Maggio, Pazienza, Gargano, Dossena – Hamsik – Lavezzi, Cavani

The tricky thing about his match is that Elfsborg have a great home record in the Europa League in the last two seasons. Here’s a summary of their home results:

2009-10

Elfsborg 3-0 Haladas (Hungary)
Elfsborg 2-0 Braga (Portugal)
Elfsborg 1-0 Lazio

2010-11
Elfsborg 2-1 Iskra-Stal (Moldova)
Elfsborg 5-0 Teteks (Macedonia)

For whatever reason, visiting European teams struggle in the Boras Arena. The artificial turf is probably a large factor, but as we saw last week Elfsborg can string together some good football even if they’re not in the same class as Napoli.

Even though Napoli’s offence isn’t firing on all cylinders now, I think they have enough to get at least one away goal. Elfsborg won’t go down without a fight, but I’m predicting Napoli to advance to the group stages.

Neil’s Official Prediction: Elfsborg 1-2 Napoli (1-3 aggregate)

I will post a link to a stream as soon as I can find one. I hope you enjoy the match, as it will be a completely different atmosphere to any kind of Serie A match. As usual there will be a summary sometime afterwards with analysis and plenty of insightful comments by Napoli fans.

This Europa League playoff tie should be over, but it isn’t. Instead of Napoli brushing aside Elfsborg and taking it easy for the second leg in Boras, there is still lots of work to be done. Given how both teams played, it should be a 4 or 5 goal cushion for Napoli, but all they have to show for their hard work is a solitary Lavezzi goal in first half injury time. The club is concerned about something, as after the match they acquired Hassan Yebda on loan from Benfica, signed Cristian Lucarelli, and are close to getting Jose Sosa from Bayern. But will bringing in more players really solve the underlying problems?

So much to talk about, but let’s start with the actual match itself. Here are the highlights:

The highlights might not show it, but Morgan De Sanctis was one of our better players and in a home match against the 4th place club from Sweden, that’s a little disappointing. If not for some good saves by De Sanctis or some better finishing by Elfsborg, Napoli might have conceded an away goal that counts for two heading to Sweden.

In attack the team managed 31 shots, 14 of them on net, but how many of them were quality chances? At this level if you take lots of shots from outside the 18 yard box you need to hit a pretty special shot to score. It didn’t help that the Elfsborg goalie, a Dane named Jesper Christiansen, played pretty well.

Aside from the high shot count, Napoli spent lots of time swinging long, looping crosses into dangerous areas. There were very few attempts to penetrate the Elfsborg defence to upgrade the scoring chance from low quality to high quality. It’s almost like Napoli’s offence is so high-tempo it makes it impossible to be tactically creative. The plan was the same every time: get the ball upfield as fast as possible and try to use pace to score a goal.

The up tempo play was successful in getting three Elfsborg defenders on a yellow in the first half, but the Swedish team adjusted and in the end nobody was sent off. Speed can create opportunities, but by itself it can’t win matches: you also need skill and a bit of intelligence.

As a result, Napoli’s offence only clicked once: Lavezzi rushed on to a through ball from Cannavaro to beat four Elfsborg defenders in a matter of seconds. Christiansen came out to pressure Lavezzi, but Lavezzi is quick and stepped around the keeper to score a match winner. The sudden pass from Canna caught everyone but Lavezzi by surprise, and it’s this kind of combination play that Napoli needs to work on. Simply bringing the ball up the wings and firing crosses in is way too predictable, and even average teams will find a way to stop these tactics by keeping lots of men behind the ball.

Now that I’m done ripping the offence, time to rip the defence. Elfsborg had way too many quality chances and really should be going home with a vital away goal. Avdic missed a great chance early in the first half, and four minute into the second half De Sanctis needed his fingertips to keep out a curling left-footed shot headed for the far side of the net. Elfsborg also had other counter-attacks, and Napoli’s three man backline can be put under pressure in a hurry. Like usual I have some concerns about Napoli’s defence even though the opposition was shut out.

So the club responds to this by bringing in more players. Benfica’s Hassan Yebda arrived out of the blue on loan. He’s a defensive midfielder who spent last year on loan at Portsmouth. To be honest I’ve never really seen Yebda play – I watched Algeria at the World Cup but I wasn’t really watching anyone in particular – so I can’t really comment on Yebda’s quality. But I will say this: Napoli didn’t really need any central midfielders. There’s already Gargano, Pazienza, Blasi, and Maiello. So Yebda was acquired either for depth, or because someone else will be leaving before the August 31 deadline or sometime in the winter.

Then the club signed Cristian Lucarelli. At 34 he’s clearly behind Lavezzi, Quagliarella, and Cavani in the depth chart, so he was brought in to give others a rest once in a while and to mentor the younger players. But isn’t it the job of the manager and coaching staff to work with younger players? The best managers in the league do a lot more than fill out the lineup card and give the team a pep talk before kickoff. I’m actually not against signing Lucarelli, as it could bring some positive effects to the offence, but if he’s mostly going to be a striker coach I’m wondering why there was nobody in a tracksuit doing that before. And if he’s going to give players a rest, can’t that time be given to young players to gain top level experience?

Now it appears that Sosa will arrive from Bayern very soon. The Argentine has already agreed to personal terms with Napoli and is very eager to make the switch as he has no future under van Gaal at Bayern. The only obstacle is that Bayern are haggling over the price – Napoli have offered 2.5 million but Bayern are holding out for closer to 3.5 million.

Sosa is the creative, attacking midfielder that Napoli is missing, but none of Napoli’s midfielders have looked good going forward under Mazzarri. The two inside mids can’t get forward, and the two wingers spend all match running up and down the wing at top speed whipping in crosses and chipping in the odd goal. Sosa’s not a winger, so I don’t really know where he’ll play. As I’ve written in the past, Mazzarri likes his two central mids to be physical, defensive ball winners rather than a creative Cigarini type player. So where does that put Sosa – competing with Hamsik for time as trequartista?

Napoli has started to increase its depth, which never really hurts but I don’t think that was Napoli’s biggest problem. My big worry is that Napoli is way too predictable offensively and will create lots of chances from distance but struggle to score bags of goals. As we saw last season, the risk of going for narrow victories is that if you have some bad luck the 0-0 draws start to pile up. Elfsborg is a good team but they were the perfect opportunity to show that Napoli belongs in the Champions League and not the Europa League. Instead Napoli could find itself missing out on the EL group stage if they don’t find more goals in the return leg in Sweden.

Watching AS Roma in 2000/2001 they played the 3-5-2 perfectly – Cafu and Candela on the wings, Batistuta in attack, Totti as trequartista and Tomassi running the midfield. Thus far Napoli doesn’t look like it’s going to master the 3-5-2 anytime soon, and tactically the team is trying to fit round players into square holes. You can buy all the players in the world, but if you don’t have some tactical flexibility other teams are going neutralize Napoli even before the teams step onto the field.

Before singing off, I will acknowledge that things could change very quickly and Napoli could be playing champagne football in a hurry. But until I see evidence of change on the field, I’m just not as enthusiastic as I was in the off season.