I wanted Sarri to stay if he would only learn to be more tactically flexible, and learn the names of players on his bench. Sarri's failures this year shows me he heasn't learned much. Bringing Jorgy has done little, as he gets overrun in the premier league weekly, (Liverpool just toyed with him on the weekend). He has one of the top players in the world in Hazard, and has made a world class ballon d'or nominee into average due to placement on the pitch.
I think we all agree ADL is the main culprit. No one has attacked ADL more than me. But let’s be realistic here. We have brought in one of the most decorated coaches in the world. ADL brought him because Sarri openly said with this budget it is impossible to compete with Juve. Ancelotti was brought in to secure CL qualification and to do better in Europe. Ancelotti has multiple times said he believes in this team and he has all the players he needs to win major trophies. He praised ADL and he said he does not need any new strikers or players. I love Hamsik and was one of the few here who defended him until he left. But fact is at his age, you cash out when you can, especially when the season was over. It was financially smart and Ancelotti clearly did not object. However, he created a hype around EL and he should not have done that if he felt we were not good enough to win it. I genuinely don’t blame the line-up but our movement is bad and 4-4-2 is not suited for our players, I love Insigne and Allan but if we can sell them for 150M we should. We also need to get rid of Hysaj, Rui, Ounas and I would even sell Albiol, Calejon and Mertens. We need a new start. We have had the same players that have failed for 6 years, yet ADL manages to always sell it as new project. Ancelotti needs to be honest in summer and set objectives he can be judged against.
I don’t mean to beat up on Sarri, but with all the resources available to him he goes and gets Higuain. A player on a downward spiral who coulsnt score in Serie A anymore. He was never going to score in the prem that has a higher tempo and that’s more physical. I didnt get why he didn’t see this beforehand. But something like raises bigger questions about him
I’ve read many people screaming that we need to switch back to 4-3-3. It wouldn’t have made a difference at this point. Callejon does not offer the same offensive output anymore. Insigne’s form and mental state are in the doldrums. Allan is being asked to do much now in a midfield of 4, imagine 3. Ruiz is a not a guy who can Marshall the midfield. Also our left and rb’s are all on poor form right now.
He doesn't have much choice. Morata is not performing and it's winter season, not many top strikers area available. Besides, Higuain is supposed to "know the system". I won't write off Sarri in PL yet. He's still a great coach and if Chelsea is patient, he will eventually deliver results.
Agreed. Formation will have made no difference if the players played like shit. It's many things, mentality, fitness, injuries, some players have aged etc. This season is truly over. All that is left now is to secure UCL for next season and hope the team don't just collapse in the remaining games. Looking forward to a reboot next season. If ADL will not interfere in transfer market and let CA have what he wants to rebuild the team, we can turn it around and actually win something meaningful. High hopes though.
I agree to some degree. But we were good the first half of the season. In any case We need 2 top wingbacks and a center back. Right midfield and Allan replacement. A too striker. Insigne and Alan need to be sold.
Here are some of my thoughts after having cool down from our disappointing EL exit. BTW, the ignore feature works like a charm. I don't have to read those toxic negativity again. It is quite clear the team is undergoing a slum in form a the moment. While there is always plenty of blame to go around when things go wrong, we can isolate these problems one by one. The Coach Personally, I never wanted Sarri to leave, even though I have some misgivings about his tactical inflexibility and lack of rotation. But with ADL burning the bridges with Sarri, and Sarri also wanted a new venture, seeing he is going nowhere with ADL, Ancelotti is basically our best alternative choice. Or else, if we have taken a risk on an unproven coach, it could have turn out to be worst. The early season performance gave us hope that we could challenge for titles this seasons, but then due to either bad luck, injuries, things took a downturn. Ancelotti is not blameless though, he is not someone that can bring out the best in individual players and he is used to managing clubs with a lot more financial muscle. And he is just too “nice” to the players, leading to lax training, poor discipline and focus, and generally weak mentality. Still if we stop throwing stones due to the emotional trauma of realizing we are not winning anything this season, this is really back to square one in terms of our till date overall performance. We are still #2, and we have progress further in European competition compared to last season. If anything that is lacking, we don’t play good football but I blamed the players instead more than the coach. Regardless, as it stands now, if we don’t get UCL by end of the season, then Ancelotti has been a failure and he should go. If not, I’ll give him another season to try. He basically inherited Sarri’s players and trying to get them to play a different style and there’s bound to be transitional hiccups. If there is one coach that can improve us, it will be Conte as he can definitely inflict better discipline and hunger not the players. But it is not a realistic option for us. For those that keep harping on about the good old days of Sarri, remember he has three years to try and have not won us anything, although he has improved us a lot. And stop being delusional, he is not coming back. Now on to our players .... The Mentality Problem As a club, Napoli haven’t win much. I don’t need to follow the club for 30 years to know that. We have not won anything and the last trophy was a Copa under Benitez. Everyone here like to dismiss Copa as a Mickey-mouse trophy but I believe winning it is not better than not winning anything, as long as it’s not a drain on resources for our other competition. Our players are not set up to response well to adversity. They may talk big to the press but in reality, they are not talking on the field. When they are tasked to deliver a result, they shrink from it, capitulate. Time and time again, we see this happening. It has happened during Sarri’s time and also now under Ancelotti. This is the #1 task that Ancelotti or any future coach need to work on. Without addressing this, we won’t win anything. The Fitness of our players The way we play, especially in recent games, we lack pace, intensity and basically just passing the ball around and sideways. Our attack is lethargic and our finishing awful. We run out of steam to press even when we are chasing a result. This is even more obvious when playing against EPL teams. Clearly there must be something wrong with the fitness of our players, something the club need to work on immediately. With enough rotation, there is no excuse for fatigue or things like that. The way we play There is a big difference in the way we play in earlier of the season compare to current. I will attribute to the fall in fitness and the fragile mentality of our players. We cannot form those quick movement and triangles if the players played this way, lethargic and lack of pace. So we gets outplayed, despite having good procession stats. Individual Players Some players are starting to regress and it’s time they move on. Callejon, Mertens, Albiol, they aren’t their former self as all of them are in the wrong side of 30. Allan has become demotivated since the PSG offer came in when he realized he can earn a lot more. I no longer see him hounding and pressing the opposition. Couple with the departure of Hamsik, our mid field is in a bit of a chaos. Fabian Ruiz has potential, but he needs more time to develop. Zelinski is often a no show. So we really don't have a functional midfield as of now. Despite being our top scorer, I still have little confidence in Milik. Time and time again he cannot make the difference in big games and always come up short when facing better defenders. His lack of pace is something he cannot change and he can only be a poacher/striker, and we know poacher strikers don’t cut it in modern games especially against big teams. We need to replace him with another striker that can actually deliver and is not just a flat-track bully against small teams. Lastly, it’s time to say goodbye to Insigne. As a home-grown player, unrealistic expectations were always placed on him and he is not someone that respond well to pressure. Having the emotional maturity of a hamster also doesn’t help as at this stage he is also showing he’s no captain material. He will do better in a club where he is not the focal point ( and target of blame ) when things don’t go well. I have always liked Insigne and feel that he has true undiscovered potential as well as genuine love for the club, but the time has come for the good of both parties to part ways. It is after all what some fans wanted. As events unfolding now, this is already happening I believed. We are not going to get more than 50M for him at this stage though. Finally.. There’s also the big elephant in the room that is the root cause for inhibiting the growth of the club, none other than the owner ADL himself but since it’s something we cannot hope to change in the short term, continuing harping on this is just whining and not helpful in truth.
Top coaches are meant to motivate as the most important factor... at least that's the first thing we learned about when I was taking a minor coaching license years ago. But that had its roots in the Cruyff way of thought, maybe the Italian methods are different... I wouldn't know I'm sure Ancelotti can motivate his players - the problem is the tactics or lack of, IMO. Emery outplayed Ancelotti, fair and square... It doesn't help that both Lacazette and Aubameyang are at least 4 times better than Milik... but then again we have Koulibaly and Allan - Arsenal don't have players on that level
Like I said in an earlier post, what could Ancelotti have done differently, tactically that would have saved the game?
Don't know I'm not qualified to answer that question. All I can say is this team had PSG by the neck twice this season
There isn't anything tactically the coach could have done in the Arsenal game if the players were physically unfit and in bad form. But Ancelotti is not blameless for allowing this to happen during a crucial period of the season. The league itself is partly to blame, being less competitive and games played at a glacial pace so that when they face a good European team, they can't catch up.
What? This is actually frustrating to read... do you even know what goes on behind the scenes? Managers have thousands of tools at their disposal to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen. It is 100 % Ancelotti's fault that we went out of an EL knock-out stage against Arsenal, it is his job to make sure the players are motivated and fit for all periods of the season! Simple as that. I seriously think he isn't taking his job here seriously, in contrast to Sarri who introduced freaking drones, he has a lot to live up to. I want a hungrier coach! Someone up and coming instead of someone who, let's be honest here, is over the hill.
You didnt read carefully. I am saying there isnt anything tactically that he can do to change the game on the spot. Which coach do you suggest then? Sarri isnt coming back. And we wont get Conte.
Change it on the spot? No he couldn't change much, but its still his fault, I wouldn't even blame ADL here... Ancelotti shouldve come more prepared! It's ********ing Arsenal ffs... Embarrassing! For a starter the fact they have 2 actual strikers should give us the midfield advantage but nooo... Not with incompetent Ancelotti! We should have played a 5 man midfield! Like the team is used to Give me Giampolo? any day
Funny I don't recall seeing such outburst and accusation of incompetence when it was Sarri that lost games in the past. Double standard much? There are times when the coach prepare the players well but when come to actual, they just decide to capitulate or didn't show up for reason I already wrote at length. It happens, even to the best of coaches and the best teams. I am not excusing Ancelotti. He could have better prepared the team. But I just don't agree all the blame goes to him. Just like when Sarri losses crunch games in the past ( most games vs Juventus in Serie A except two I can recall ) and many examples, it is when the player didn't show up and I won't blame him. Just like when Chelsea players decided not to show up and conceded 6 goals to Manchester City. These things happened. So is Sarri incompetent? No of course. If it is only coaches that matters, we don't need to sign good players. Send out a B team with a world class coach and that will do. Typical football fan knee-jerk reaction is to blame the coach. Even if we have 5 midfield like you suggest, if the players didn't show up, either due to lack of fitness or mental issues, we can play whatever formation and it will not matter. Also, tt's not f**king Arsenal. Arsenal is one of the top team in EPL challenging for top 4 in a very competitive league. They have some good players and are no push over. As much as you guys despise EPL. most teams are playing way better football than the teams in Serie A. Don't believe me, go watch the Manchester City vs Spurs UCL game. If you put Juventus into EPL, I can bet in their current form, even with Ronaldo, they are not going to even make it to top 3. You are like CarecaNapoli just determine to hate on Ancelotti no matter what and want to see him fail ( and indirectly to see Napoli fail ). I think you two are just going to hate on any coach that is not named Sarri. However, too bad, Sarri is not coming back. Giampolo? That's an unproven mid table coach ( Sampdoria is currently mid table ) with a win ratio in Serie A less than 50%. What has he achieved so far that convinced you he is suitable? He's basically riding on the coat tail of a surprising late surge in form from Quagliarella. If Quagiliarella played like any 37 years old striker, minus those goals and they could be in relegation zone. What's the rational to take the risk on him? At least if it's Gasperini it will make a bit better sense as Atalanta is challenging for top 4.
Because there were always positive signs with Sarri. Do you remember how unlucky we were against city at home last year? I don't wanna read all you're saying I stopped after the stupid double standard bullshit... Sarri made us dream! Not gonna respond anyone, your analogy makes no sense. You call people non fans because they critique, yet you yourself look like an ancelotti fan boy...
Wow... When Sarri loose games, it's unlucky. When Ancelotti loose games, he is incompetent. How fair ya? I kind of expected your response because you and CarecaNapoli are one of the same breed. Fake fans. Just like CarecaNapoli, you just got called out and decide not to respond? of course you cannot and don't know how respond because deep down you realize what I said is true and what you are posting is not fair criticism, but bias hatred for no reason, and finding fault for the sake of finding fault. I suggest you long ago to switch team and support Chelsea since you are such a big Sarri-fanboy. It will make you a lot happier. Moreover, your idol Jorginho is also there. And bring the other fake fanboy along with you as well, the so called 30 years Napoli fan who does nothing every day but type out one criticism after another in here. I am not Ancelotti fan. I am Napoli fan. I have supported Sarri in the past when he was Napoli coach. If another coach join Napoli and not Ancelotti, I will also support him and defend the coach and for that matter any player against bias and unfair accusation. I only don't defend ADL because his actions or non-actions are actually damaging the club. You two are fake fans. You want to see Napoli fail, that's why I am going after you both.
This bashing of EPL gets comical here. Many are afraid to admit it's a better league, and Arsenal is a better team from front to back, especially their front half. Ancelotti put the team in a position to win tactically with what he has. Callejon scores and it's probably a different match. Where Ancelotti should be criticised is the fitness and mental state of the team. He's simply not hard enough on the nancies in the lineup.
That's because we have some very opinionated dickheads here who are so close-minded that they cannot comprehend or accept any ideas outside of their usual "brainscope". No need for me to spell out who they are. Striker wise, we have Milik vs Aubemayang and Lacazette. The latter two are miles ahead of Milik who can only score against small teams. And they also have Ozil, who when in form, is arguably one of the best mid-fielder in the word. And it's just f***king Arsenal? Give me a break.
In two legs, we didn’t score one goal. We were outmatched in all areas of the field. Their midfield bosses ours. Faster, more physical, first on the ball etc. There’s no disputing this