Hi guys, as you see I'm a Napoli fan and I'd like to share some info waiting for the match. I've been reading news about Midtjylland big data strategy etc, but I don't know the main line-up, tactics etc, so I would be very grateful if you could tell me more. The nice thing in Europa League is that you get to see teams you've never watched a match of, before.
Here are my two(thousand)cents about Napoli. Good thing for you, you can ignore me if you don't care
1) less then 10 years ago we were in the italian Serie C due to balance issues. We made our way up to the Serie A and many things have changed since.
After two years with Benitez as a manager (2 italian cups and 1 italian supercup won, the EL semi-final lost against Dnipro last year and not such amazing results in the championship) the team was suffering for the very weak defense.
Maurizio Sarri the new coach got the first "big team" in his career this year. Napoli is not like Juve, Inter Milan and Milan AC that have won almost everything in Italian Football history, but still we managed to win something and be runner-up in many championships.
2) Sarri is a football professor. He has a very specific mindset about how to play which is based mainly on these few things:
- 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3
- very high pressing (close to the opponent's box so that you can try an extremely quick counter-attack and at the same time you make defensive phase easier for midfielders and defenders)
- always try not to touch the ball three times before passing it
He is not so inflexible anyway. At the beginning of the season we took 4 goals in two matches because of mistakes and unprotected defensive line. he then switched from 4-3-1-2 to 4-3-3 to re-plan the defensive phase and in the last 7 matches only 2 goals were taken.
3) the main line-up usually is:
Reina
Hysaj Albiol Koulibaly Ghoulam
Jorginho
Allan Hamsik
Callejon Insigne
Higuain
As you have already read on the italian newspapers there will be some reserve player in the starting line-up because some of them played already many matches both in Napoli and with their national teams in the last month (Hysaj, Ghoulam, Hamsik, Koulibaly, Insigne)
Probably the team will have at least three reserve players: Gabbiadini (replacing Higuain), El Kaddouri replacing Hamsik or Insigne and Maggio replacing Hysaj. There could also be Valdifiori replacing Jorginho.
In details:
Reina is a very good goalkeeper with great leadership. He gave confidence to the defense
Hysaj (Albania national team) is a very precise guy. Already played in a Sarri's team last year in Empoli. He knows exactly the moves Sarri wants him to do
Albiol was not great until this year, but as I told you the defense improved a lot and he is now doing a decent job.
Koulibaly is the typical young and fast defender that can be very dangerous when he gets in berserker mode but I think he's got great potential and a good coach (after the 5-0 against Brugge Sarri said: "Koulibaly played 85 minutes of perfection and 5 minutes making a complete mess... if he gets to focus during the 90 minutes he's going to be a top player")
Ghoulam (Algeria national team) he is a fighter. He has a good feeling with Insigne and Hamsik, and they quickly overlap or pass the ball each other.
Jorginho at the beginning of the season should be the reserve for Valdifiori, the playmaker that Sarri had in Empoli last year and Napoli bought during the summer. He is now the first playmaker choice for Sarri because he is quick-thinking both during the attacking and the defensive phase, with good passing and great positioning on the opponent's passing lines.
Allan is a tough midfielder with some extra tactical and technical skill when it comes to attack behind enemy lines waiting for an ball-on-the-ground assist
Hamsik is a very talented player that went through difficult times under Benitez. Anyway he has scored almost 80 goals in Napoli, so far (with less than 300 matches played). With Sarri he plays a little far from the box but he is another playmaker with great vision, ball control and easily kicking the ball with both feet.
Callejon is the most weird player. He is fast but not a Ferrari. He can shoot precisely but he's not a sniper. He has skills but not mesmerizing ones and still he is one of the key players being able to always be in the right position at the right time, giving support both attacking and defending
Insigne has great ball control (some of his controls are impressive) and a great feeling with Higuain and Callejon. He can great assists and this year he is improving on the goal-rate. He never scored 6 goals in a season, before: this year he already did in 10 matches (8 championship and 2 EL)
Higuain. NO COMMENT.
The reserve players that should play are:
Maggio - former right defender now replaced by the younger and more skillful Hysaj. Maggio was great when Napoli used to play with box-to-box counter-attacks during the time Mazzarri was the coach (before benitez). His lack of ball control made him a second choice for Sarri.
Valdifiori - last year in Empoli he made a great season and all the top teams were looking for him. This year he is not yet ready and Sarri made him a reserve playmaker to Jorginho. Anyway he has been playing with Sarri for 3 years and perfectly knows the moves, the passing, the 2-touch philosophy that the coach applies.
El Kaddouri - not very fast, with good skills he is an offensive midfielder playing both on central position or on the left side. Right footed he likes to be on the "wrong" side to have more chances to bend it on the far post.
Gabbiadini - left-foot-only player. He really could be a crack improving the right foot.
With the left one, anyway, he manages to be a killer. He can shoot from great distance with sniper precision. The bad thing for him is that there is Higuain to compete with. He does not feel very comfortable as primary-forward (in fact against Legia Warsav he did not perform well starting with the back-to-gate position and only when Higuain came in and Gabbiadini became the secondary-forward role he could be dangerous.
I hope this has been interesting for you.
Ciao and good luck for the match!