I kinda agree with the article in part. Played more CL minutes for Juve last year other than naturally Buffon. Look at his minutes compared to say same age type Mertens from last year. About 400 more minutes for Higgy in Serie play and also like 500 more CL minutes with Higgy seeing just about every minute of every CL match. Plus before that a few years straight of many more minutes than Mertens. Other younger Serie forwards also who he played more minutes than.
This being though he should get himself in better shape. Not young guy anymore and hopefully looks in the mirror and realizes has to do more than rely on his God given talent. Also like I mentioned before nice to see Mario play for him in last match and believe it should be done more often even if Higgy was in top notch form. Max uses the whole team nicely getting ready for spring CL matches but would like to see Higgy fresher come that time.
If we were talking about running backs in the NFL, and how the wear and tear on their bodies greatly diminishes performances, I would be more agreeable to the point. I don't think his slump so far this season is because he's played a lot of minutes in previous years. The guy has basically been injury free, and had a decent summer break.
Those extra minutes might explain him getting worn down by the end of last year, but he should be physically recovered by now, I think.
Despite the fact that he's not as heavy as when he originally arrived, it does seem as though he's lacking fitness, and at least as importantly, confidence. He couldn't pass the ball 3 meters last game.
Agree that it's good to see Max rotating that position, though. Nobody should get a free ride, just because they cost a lot of money. Higuain has gotta get his butt in gear, and ideally we'd have a bit more competition at that spot.
Sarri has that team playing great football. It makes sense that they improved a lot from the first year he coached to the second, and it makes sense that they'd take another solid step forward this year as his ideas are further consolidated, and execution improves. Napoli didn't lose key players this summer, and that team knows their system and each others tendencies extremely well -- they're a pretty well oiled machine at this point.