Could you believe that we’ve come to yet another season’s end??? 🥺😢😭
It seems like just yesterday we were diving into the different tactical elements found within SM23’s ‘Tactics Page’. Time really flies, huh?!
Oh, well….. There’s nothing else left to do but finishing off with a bang. And, in today’s episode, we’ll be discussing the tactics of the recently crowned Gil Azzuri Champions. For those of you who’ve been living under a rock, SSC Napoli recently won their first Serie A title since 1990, and they didn’t just win the Serie A, they strolled to the Serie A! This team has been knocking on the doors of league winners for a very long time ever since the days of “Sarri” ball. And although most of the players at that time have left the Gil Azzuri, some of those principles are still around today in addition to the explosive game that Manager Luciano Spalletti has implemented. In true title winning fashion, Napoli are a blend of great youth and great experienced players who have been brought together by the tactical expertise of Spalletti that saw them play some electrifying football that literally blew the other 19 teams away. We’ll be getting into some of the tactics shortly, but it must be said that the level of individual brilliance within their strongest (or most preferred) starting X1 is a great testament of Spalletti’s ability to man manage players thus allowing them to express themselves on the pitch.
Nuff said…And here is that dominate starting X1!!!! If you’d like a more in-depth analysis of this Napoli team, you can check out my friend’s Youtube Channel where he explained their tactics in more detail (I will leave a link down below after today’s episode). Now then, from defence to attack, Napoli displayed a great dose of balance with their structure that startedin defence with Kim being the ball player from the back while his partner in crime Rrahmani played more like a Stopper who simply wanted to kill his opponent. Both Di Loreznzo and Olivera got forward as much as possible with the knowledge that the Midfield 3 had absolutely everything and gave them that added protection. Speaking of the Midfield 3, as much as pundits and fans gave all the plaudits to the attacking players, the real applause should be going to the trio of Lobotka, Anguissa, and Zielinski who were the backbone of this Napoli success. Lobotka was the dictator running the show from deep, while both Anguissa and Zielinski are complete Midfielders who can attack, defend, run and play, with Zielinski being the one that had majority of the freedom to join in on the attack. In terms of the Forwards, there’s probably not much that needs to be said since they were fantastic. Kvaratskhelia was the player of the season in Serie A and is potentially the next world record signing in my opinion, while Osimhen came into his own displaying that he is indeed a TOP F(C) playing as an Explosive Target Man. Lozano did his bit as well but played more of a rotational role swapping in and out with Matteo Politano.
STRATEGY
Its not just the minos who play a Counter Attacking style. The Champions also implement this strategy to ensure that they continued to play to their strengths.
INSTRUCTIONS
GENERAL
With the level of ability Khvicha operated with, Spalletti decided to play with team extremely wide in order to stretch the opposition’s defence which meant that Khvicha was constantly 1v1 against his Fullback (and he tended to embarrass them). This width also allowed for the never ending runs of Zielinski and Anguissa heading into the box. Napoli were brave on the ball (which is required in order to be a championship team) but they also did not need to get out of their shape since they had sooo much individual brilliance
ATTACK
Width was the name of Napoli’s game so the intention was to get the ball out to Khvicha and Lozano as much as possible. With Osimhen in the middle operating both D(C)’s ( or even a back 3 if they are playing against a back 3 formation), it allowed Spaletti to work the ball into the box when the ball was outside rather than rushing things (remember that they had the 1v1 brilliance of Khvicha and Lozano/Politano), with the intention of taking as many shots as possible whenever they were around the 18 yd box
DEFENDING
What made this Napoli team even better was the fact that they did not need to be an all out pressing team that attempted to win the ball back high up the field. In fact, this is not something you will find Italian teams doing since they are one of the founding Father’s of the art of Defending. However, they did defend with aggression in an attempt to impose themselves on every team that they played in order to let them know that it won’t be an easy game.
I must say that watching Napoli over the course of this season has truly been a thing of joy and beauty. The way they simply blew the opposition to smithereene was fantastic. The only downside of their entire season had to be going out of the Champions League at the Quarter finals stage. As a matter of fact, for such a good team, Napoli’s record of winning things is very poor in my opinion and they should’ve been the Italian team that is representing the Nazzuri against Manchester City on Saturday. Nevertheless, nothing can be taken way from how dominant they have been this season.
And with that, season 6 has come to an end….. Thanks as always for tuning in. Expect to get your batteries recharged as we will be going into Season 7 by June 19th. Have a great one! ✌️ 💚 🚶
The Soccermanager Experience 