Monday, May 19 th, 2014
Mission  |  Team  |  Contact Us
Photo by Katia Ancona
Napoli and their two-faced season: Benitez's men did well, the old guard failed
The new signings, wanted by Benitez, neoticeably improved the team. But Benitez failed to motivate the rest of the team. The club will have to make another great effort in the summer transfer window
by Anthony Pepe
Victories against Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and Marseille in Europe, and against Juventus, Roma, Fiorentina, Inter and AC Milan in Serie A are the heights hit by the current Napoli team. The same team that has dropped points against all of the bottom seven teams, bar Catania.

It's hard to truly say whether this season for Napoli is one where expectations were met or not, but it is clear who the best performing Napoli players have been this season: Rafael Benitez's signings. Many spoke of scudetto aspirations for Napoli this year and while they have not necessarily disappointed, consistency in the league has evaded them. Juventus’ level of dominance and the pleasant surprise of Roma are mitigating factors, but in any case Napoli have not performed as they could have this year.


Gonzalo Higuaín
has replaced Edinson Cavani in the hearts of Napoli fans, and despite the fact that he's tucked away 24 goals in all competitions, it could easily be argued that he's not yet hit full stride in his new team. Dries Mertens has been an unqualified success, taking only a couple of months to acclimatise to a completely new way of playing football, and at a higher level than he had ever experienced; his goals and assists have been timely and crucial.


José María Callejón
, with his 18 goals in all competitions is living up to his number 7 shirt, and is doing exactly what he was purchased to do, stretching the opposition with his constant runs in behind the defence and by staying wide, and crucially, scoring goals.


Raúl Albiol
is the centre back that Napoli was crying out for, solid and dependable, one who doesn't make you worry about what his next mistake will be, and his presence has been doubly important considering the drastic loss of form that Paolo Cannavaro suffered in 2013, leading him to be loaned out to Sassuolo.


Pepe Reina
has ably replaced Morgan De Sanctis, and seems to have (almost) erased the mistakes that had been creeping into his game during his final two seasons for Liverpool. He has also become a fan favourite and of president Aurelio De Laurentiis, and is likely to sign on permanently this summer. However, if Reina goes to Barcelona as suspected he might, new Brazilian keeper Rafael showed enormous potential before unfortunately rupturing his ACL.


While not having had enough time to show their true potential, all three of Napoli's big January signings have impressed; Jorginho has automatically become a key midfielder for his new team, Henrique has given Napoli's build up play a new dimension with his experience and calmness on the ball, while Ghoulam has impressed the Napoli hierarchy, is young, and is part of Benitez's first choice eleven for next season.


After Napoli’s most successful calciomercato in decades, one would have expected a more serious title challenge. Unfortunately, the old guard have not matched the performances shown by their new teammates.


Benitez has not had the luxury of a first choice centre-back partnership; he had hoped to partner Albiol with Cannavaro, however, Cannavaro's form deteriorated to the point that he had to be shipped out. Federico Fernández has not progressed as hoped, and Miguel Britos is simply not good enough. Along with Henrique, Benitez will be hoping to bring in another defender in the summer.


The midfield has arguably been Napoli’s weakest area this season. It is the opinion of many that Gokhan Inler has stagnated, or even regressed, over the last two years. Inler’s displays this season, along with Behrami, have meant that Benitez has not been able to implement the possession football he says he wants.

 

The most disappointing aspect of this season, from Napoli’s perspective, have been the very poor performances of Marek Hamšík. So lacklustre has his season been that the man who declared at the beginning of this season that he wants to be “like Totti for Napoli” and retire at the club, now looks like he’ll be leaving this summer.


This lack of consistency has been a disturbing feature of Napoli’s season, Benitez stated after the draw with Udinese that “[Napoli] doesn’t seem to be used to fighting for victory.” Rafa also mentioned that: “We’re lacking the mentality, the character […] it’s not something that can be bought in a shop, we have to work towards it day by day.” After having trained his players for almost a year, Benitez is clearly unable to instil them with the correct mentality, and has recently been showing his frustration. The players he purchased from Real Madrid and PSV were already used to an atmosphere where you must win every week, and not just the big ones which excite the supporters.


The squad is divided in two
, the aforementioned Benitez’s boys, and the rest. Of said rest, only Insigne, Pandev, Mesto and Inler look likely to avoid this summer’s cull. But while Benitez is talking about working to establish a winning mentality, it is much more likely to be accomplished with another large summer spending spree.

Wednesday, April 30 th, 2014
For discussion of this topic and many more, join more than 10,000 fans at R/Football