Disagree. Tonelli, Maggio, Mario Rui, Diawara, Milik, Ounas are not good players. The exception was Rog. This was the best season we had in 28 years so Sarri was right in what he did.
Sarri choose to bench an in-form Mertens for Milik in the opening away game to Shakhtar Donetsk ( which I think he under-estimated ) and that proved to be a costly mistake and a big reason why we exit at the group stage. We didn't recover from that and fell to Europa league which he then started all the bench players for Europa League and Copa and by then, few months into the season, they hardly had any playing time and of course become rusty and "horrible" as you said. Then, there's the puzzling move of always starting our best 11 against the likes of Benevento, Cagliari etc which doesn't make sense. Even when we were leading like 3 to 4 goals as I recalled in some games, he didn't use this opportunity to sub in earlier to give our bench players more playing time. Why always insist to sub at 70+ mins? And why always give Rog, another promising player, 5 mins here, 10 mins there? Rog was a starter in Croatia National Team among the likes of Lukas Modric and Rakitic. I didn't say Tonellli was great. I simply said he was a well regarded defender while in Empoli and he was playing under Sarri. In fact, I recall it was Sarri that requested him to come to Napoli. He started for a few of our opening games and then he barely started. Injuries reduced his playing time as well. The last game he started against Udinese, he even scored a goal. Who knows if given more playing time how good can he be. Maksimovic is similar to Tonelli, very promising while in Torino. He in turn left to search for more first team opportunity. As for Ounas, he was one of those "buy on potential" purchase. I won't say pre-season friendlies are meaningless as it's a good time to test / try out new players and I recall he was performing well in those games. In fact, most of you guys here were quite optimistic we just signed a promising player. Who knows how well he will turn out to be if properly developed and given more playing time? If it works, he would be the perfect cover for Callejon. But he was writen off and never given a chance. It's also not entirely correct he wasn't a regular at Bordeaux. He has 49 caps for his former team over 2 seasons. In Napoli, he only have 6 caps this season. He played 1220 mins for Bordeaux last season before while only playing 184 mins for Napoli this season. It's not just my opinion. Lots of sports commentators and bloggers have pointed out that our starting 11 play far more minutes than any other players in other Serie A teams and have forewarned problems will happen later in the season. Indeed it has now. No, I disagree. We can have it both way if managed properly. The thing is there is such a thing called "balance" in rotation. Either one can rotate too little or rotate too much. Both are not ideal. Not rotating or rotating too little means over time, the starters gets tired/out of formwhile the bench players become discouraged and their skills turned rusty. Rotating too much ( eg Benitez ) means the team will suffer in consistency. A good coach is supposed to strike a good balance between the two depending of course on squad quality. Lots of coaches have done that successfully, something Sarri can learn.
I agree on Maggio and Milik. Maggio is too old ( we should have signed a proper backup RB ) and Milik is well... too slow. Half the time opposing team defenders intercept the ball before he can reach it. Don't quite agree on the rest. Their lack of form is a direct result of lack of playing time. Nobody is saying Sarri has not improved the team and the club performance overall. Some of us are just saying it can be better by rotating which you refuse to admit. Napoli are never this close to winning the Scudetto and it's regretable we fall short at the last lap.
http://app.football-italia.net/#article/footballitalia-120682&menu=news-all Hope they dig into this and finally identify something. I wish those cheaters will be relegated as a result.
Well of course as a Juventus fan, I cannot support a team competing to win the Scudetto with us, but overall I used to like Napoli as a team and they used to be my second favorite in Italy, but now after realizing the way Sarri manages the team, it has made me hate him.
No those players would not but what about Insigne, Milik, Mertens, and Higuain (used to be at Napoli)? Milik and Mertens would likely both start at Roma and Milan.
For those that don't understand: You don't need the full FIFA 22 player roster to win a scudetto. You need a solid 11, and four to five reliable subs that can easily be inserted and not disrupt the balance of the team. Sarri has failed in integrating his bench players into the squad and the team has suffered. There is not one of you here that can argue this with me. And now I know you're thinking "well he doesn't have talent on his bench. Giuntoli didn't give him a good squad etc. etc." This is pure horse shit. Juventus won Scudetto's with Padoin, Pepe, and Giaccherini. Milan's last scudetto featured players like Abate, Mesbah, Nocerino, Aquilani and an absolute plumber in Bonera. It took a major injury to Ghoulam for us to discover that Mario Rui is a half decent terzino. He could have started some games and give Ghoulam relief. But no he simply wasn't trusted. Rog has started a total of 0 games this year, yet he is good enough as a sub 26 times. Zielinski should be starting every single game. etc etc I can go on. Some of you guys don't rate Gabbiadini, I disagree. Why wouldn't you want a versatile striker with a cannon left foot on your squad? Did Sarri ever try to play Gabbia on the right wing like when he was at Samp? No. Another thing is that our entire style of play is pigeon holed around this Sarri false #9 horse shit system. This makes it very difficult to integrate new players into. How can you sub Mertens for Milik and expect him to play the same passing game. He's not that type of a player. Just look at the Juve game. He was only effective on the set piece (drawing three Juve players). But this is a value that only target man can give you. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN and he is UNWILLING TO RISK. SARRI IS NOT BLAMELESS
Honestly i would prefer we had won vs Sass las week and loose to Napoli at home. It's incredible how you guys made the badest game in the season in the most important moment. The red was fair. But the red vs Inter in rubentus gobbo die merda game was harsh. damn Inter. Some of you mentioned that our players were clwbrating the goals and the win to much. We have the youngest team in serie a, guys with heart and fighting spirit, its just emotions. geled the team after loosing the starting eleven this year and an incredible spirit. Honestly im happy today because simeone finnaly gets what he deserves, but god damit i whished it so much that you win the scudetto, years of juve merda. I dont think juve will drop points now, Roma is fighting hard in the championsleague... Im a bit in a conflict now if we dont qualifiy for europa i would have prefered to give you the points..... Now we will take the 9 points and hope the best. Damn what the fock is going on with marek hamsik the napoli legend. A player i always loved and capitano, but you are right he was an absolut ghost yesterday. if we had won 1:0 vs 10 man i would be sad today , but probs to my team and the hattrick from simeone was what he merits after a decent season now. But forza napoli the best and most enjoyable offensive football in serie A since years. hangover, sorry for my english but you understand
I think the majority of Napoli fans were more upset with the Viola fans in the stadium. Napoli players laid flowers for Astori at the base of the curva fiesole and they still chanted "Vesuvio wash them with fire". They seemed really happy we're not going to win the scudetto. Personally i'm not bothered by anything from the viola players or fans. Napoli job was to make sure they all stayed quiet and we were humiliated. Not anyone's fault but our own
100% Spot On. That is exactly what I was trying to say earlier. And yes people criticize the bench players, and yes maybe they are not all that good, but saying they are not talented is ridiculous. Gabbiadini I feel is a good player. What about under Benitez. He scored a number of goals. He has his ups and downs but surely good enough to start in some of the smaller games and to come on as a sub frequently. Look at Juventus for example. We have used players like Sturaro and Asamoah quite often this season, and I believe Mario Rui and Rog are both better than Asamoah and Sturaro.
I'm not going to overlook the fact that we are 4 points off with the 6x champs and achieved a record points season. I'm grateful for the work of the squad. But I will maintain that we could have still been first. Sarri is receiving a grand lesson on the do's and don't of being a championship winning manager. But I feel like we are his guinea pig and some other team will reap the eventual reward.
I'm maybe the biggest Fiore fan in switzerland because i live and die with my club. If i were in the stadium and heared the fiore ultras singing "Vesuvio wash them with fire" i could't follow at this point of the season" but napoli is also my second team in seria A and you could pass our most hated enemy for the glory. I dont understand the reactions of the fiore ultras....its almost a shame. We have some history and we diddnt have won at home vs Napol since 2009. Maybe this. Every game since batistuta eras i was 100% behind my team, but this game was different for me. every game vs napoli im 100% behind my team, but this win is almost useless because we have slim chances to qualifie for europe and juve wins.
We did not attack the players but the fans that abused Napoli and took pleasure in our misery even if it meant that your biggest rivals would win. There were insults against us. Fiorentina was always a team I liked until last night.
Inter and Genoa and Benevento are the only teams that prefer Napoli winning the league. That is a fact and my view of Inter changed as well.
No why would any team play with two target men when you have many mobile or technical options like under or schick?
Uncalled for behaviour from these Florentina fans especially after our players pay their respect to their deceased Captain prior to the game. As in any football clubs, there will always be fans that are jerks. Maybe they see it as their payback for winning the Copa Italia against them few seasons ago.