Life and death with Crotone! Lol CB’s absolutely shocking. We need to sell Manolas to whoever will take him and good riddance to Maksimovic. There’s no excuse. We shouldn’t have suffered so much. Jr. Messias and Simy are solid players who are too good for Serie B I expect someone in Serie A to sign them. That Chilean they brought on as a sub looks interesting
Manolas just needs rhythm and match fitness. I don't think he would have started today if Koulibaly wasn't suspended. Maksimovic took a heavy touch on that third goal, but a lot of defenders would have showed similar frailty on the ball if they are asked to play out of the back like this. Napoli need to be a bit smarter about how they play. After that mistake, when Elmas was subbed on, Ruiz was able to drop back further and that made a big difference. Napoli started to play well again and dominated Crotone thereafter. Simy has good size, but other than the two mistakes Manolas made, he was no threat. Kostas beat in him in the air each time and Simy had nowhere to go even if he won those challenges. Messias did well on the third goal, but like Simy offered little else. Crotone don't really offer much in support to their forwards. I agree the Chilean Rojas (?) is an interesting prospect. He almost made things happen for Crotone after Napoli took charge.
I think all three of those players would do better at a club that can actually offer them something more to work with. All three have everything to do on their own. Crotone are a very limited team.
Simy has scored in 5 straight, so credit has to be given. Manolas has too many blundering errors. His foul against Sass to take 2 points away was just another fine example. Today, he was as bad as one can be.
Manolas made two bad mistakes that against a better team would have cost Napoli the game. He's been out for a month. Kostas needs to get his rhythm back. I don't think he had any business playing against Sassuolo and today it seems he's still not ready to see the pitch yet. Gattuso only played him because it was Crotone and because Koulibaly was suspended.
I've seen that called as a reckless challenge before, even if man and ball was caught simultaneously. I was surprised ref didn't check it himself at least one more time.
JUVENTUS-NAPOLI - Mercoledì, ore 18.45, Allianz Stadium Juventus (4-4-2): Buffon; Danilo, De Ligt, Chiellini; Alex Sandro; Cuadrado, Bentancur, Rabiot, Chiesa; Morata, Ronaldo. A disp: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Demiral, Di Pardo, Dragusin, Frabotta, Fagioli, McKennie, Arthur, Ramsey, Dybala, Kulusevski. All. Pirlo Napoli (4-2-3-1): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Hysaj; Demme, Fabian; Lozano, Zielinski, Insigne; Mertens. A disp: Contini, Ospina, Maksimovic, Mario Rui, Elmas, Bakayoko, Osimhen, Politano, Petagna, Manolas, Cioffi, Lobotka. All. Gattuso
Zielinski should have had a pk. You can't play an advantage there! Other than that our intensity off the ball is garbage, especially Zielinski's. Sorry but off the ball he doesn't offer enough most of the time
Everyone has been garbage up front. Mertens was invisible, and Insigne was up to his old ways with his passing.
Juventus effective 1 on 4 at least 2 or 3 times. Napoli ineffective 1 on 1 throughout the whole half. So far so good.