[Serie A] JUVENTUS 3-0 Nipples Soccer FC (Nov. 10th 2013) (24 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
Some good stuff from Juve tonight, but Napoli could hardly have made it easier for them in the first half.
I thought Napoli's 4-2-3-1 would provide a really awkward tactical match-up for Juve, but that didn't prove to be the case. Napoli were clearly painfully aware of how weak their backline looked on paper and so they felt they had to pull the wingers a long way back with Juve's wing backs and that largely solved the problem for Juve of how to deal with Napoli's system.
Napoli also played an extraordinarily passive first half hour. I don't know to what extent they played to drop off and cede territory and possession to Juve and how much of it was due to being knocked back by the early goal. I can't imagine Benitez wanted to allow Juve within 25 yards of the Napoli goal before any pressure was put on the ball. Giving Juve so much time on the ball was suicidal because, as much as they tried to drop off and protect it, Napoli's defence was not able to cope, so the only real surprise was that Juve only scored once in the first half hour. Since Napoli weren't going to be able to deal with Juve's attacking players, they really needed to put pressure on the ball higher up the pitch and limit Juve's ability to attack.
Gradually Napoli did get into the game towards the end of the half and then showed the sort of intensity and aggression at the start of the second half that they'd needed from the off. However, because Juve had the lead, Juve didn't need to make any effort to get the wing backs high up the pitch or play much in deep areas, so it was tough for Napoli to win the ball back in situations that gave them the opportunity to attack quickly. Only area that tended to look dangerous at all was when Armero got high up and Insigne drifted inside, but even that rarely looked like really penetrating the Juve defence.
Napoli were also seriously disadvantaged by one of the most irritating forms of bias referees show towards big teams - and I say this having watched Aberdeen suffer it on numerous occasions. Every single time Napoli pressed Juve in the second half, the referee would give Juve a freekick. Most of them were for minimal contact and some of the calls were just plain wrong. Anyway, this rendered Napoli's pressing fairly ineffective and it meant the game remained bitty enough for it to be tough for Napoli to build up any really momentum and made it relatively easy for Juve to control things. It becomes incredibly frustrating when you are the victim of it and you know that, while it is having a major impact on the game, it is never going to be picked up in the way a single big decision in favour of the big team would be.
Anyway, could have been a really interesting game if Napoli had backed themselves to play to their strengths from the start, rather than fearing their own weaknesses so much and depriving themselves of the ability to hurt Juve.
I thought Napoli's 4-2-3-1 would provide a really awkward tactical match-up for Juve, but that didn't prove to be the case. Napoli were clearly painfully aware of how weak their backline looked on paper and so they felt they had to pull the wingers a long way back with Juve's wing backs and that largely solved the problem for Juve of how to deal with Napoli's system.
Napoli also played an extraordinarily passive first half hour. I don't know to what extent they played to drop off and cede territory and possession to Juve and how much of it was due to being knocked back by the early goal. I can't imagine Benitez wanted to allow Juve within 25 yards of the Napoli goal before any pressure was put on the ball. Giving Juve so much time on the ball was suicidal because, as much as they tried to drop off and protect it, Napoli's defence was not able to cope, so the only real surprise was that Juve only scored once in the first half hour. Since Napoli weren't going to be able to deal with Juve's attacking players, they really needed to put pressure on the ball higher up the pitch and limit Juve's ability to attack.
Gradually Napoli did get into the game towards the end of the half and then showed the sort of intensity and aggression at the start of the second half that they'd needed from the off. However, because Juve had the lead, Juve didn't need to make any effort to get the wing backs high up the pitch or play much in deep areas, so it was tough for Napoli to win the ball back in situations that gave them the opportunity to attack quickly. Only area that tended to look dangerous at all was when Armero got high up and Insigne drifted inside, but even that rarely looked like really penetrating the Juve defence.
Napoli were also seriously disadvantaged by one of the most irritating forms of bias referees show towards big teams - and I say this having watched Aberdeen suffer it on numerous occasions. Every single time Napoli pressed Juve in the second half, the referee would give Juve a freekick. Most of them were for minimal contact and some of the calls were just plain wrong. Anyway, this rendered Napoli's pressing fairly ineffective and it meant the game remained bitty enough for it to be tough for Napoli to build up any really momentum and made it relatively easy for Juve to control things. It becomes incredibly frustrating when you are the victim of it and you know that, while it is having a major impact on the game, it is never going to be picked up in the way a single big decision in favour of the big team would be.
Anyway, could have been a really interesting game if Napoli had backed themselves to play to their strengths from the start, rather than fearing their own weaknesses so much and depriving themselves of the ability to hurt Juve.