Napoli have demonstrated how NOT to defend your league title
After a first Serie A title in 33 years, all seemed rosy for Napoli. But after the sacking of Rudi Garcia and reappointment of former manager Walter Mazzarri, any hopes of a dynasty in southern Italy are up in smoke. It begs the question: how badly can you defend a title?
In truth, last season was the definition of a perfect storm for the Neapolitans. Absolutely nobody expected a 16-point title procession, especially after the departure of captain Lorenzo Insigne, all-time top scorer Dries Mertens and long-time defensive rock Kalidou Koulibaly for pastures new.
It felt like the end of an era but instead it heralded the best season for the club since the Diego Maradona glory days.
These stalwarts were replaced with the largely unheralded Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kim min-Jae amongst others, including Premier League rejects Tanguy Ndombele (on loan from Spurs) and Frank Anguissa (happily sold by Fulham).
Aided by the improved fitness of Victor Osimhen, Luciano Spalletti masterminded a stunning title success, which was near sealed before the World Cup, with Napoli winning 13 and drawing two of their opening 15 games.
A third Scudetto was finally confirmed in early May, kicking off the biggest party the city had seen in decades. Having been there in September during an international break, this writer can only imagine the scenes in a city that lives and breathes football like perhaps none other in Europe.
So where did it all go wrong? Spalletti decided it was time for a sabbatical, the 64-year-old understandably saying he no longer had the energy to give the role and the people everything needed. Weeks later, he would be appointed the new national team manager.
Spalletti’s successor had last worked in Saudi Arabia, and indeed been sacked by Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr in April. After links to everyone from Luis Enrique to Thiago Motta and having previously employed Champions League winners Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez, Rudi Garcia represented a very uninspiring choice by Aurelio De Laurentiis.
Sure, Garcia had previously managed in Italy with Roma and won Ligue 1 with Lille (the Eden Hazard vintage) but that had been years before, and he was perhaps best known for being mooted for an interim role at Manchester United only to be pipped to the post by Ralf Rangnick.
He didn’t fit the bill for stewardship of one of the most exciting sides in Europe but surely, Napoli would pull strings in the transfer market and things couldn’t go that bad. Wrong on both counts.
After the successes of the summer before, Napoli went slightly rogue again, signing Giacomo Raspadori, Jesper Lindstrom, Giovanni Simeone (on loan last season) and Jens Cajuste, but the results have not been the same. How much of that can be attributed to the players themselves or the management of Garcia is still to be seen.
It was expected that the more financially powerful clubs would circle like vultures for their star trio of Kim, Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen but De Laurentiis lived up to his reputation and only let go of the first, who headed to Bayern Munich in a near-triple profit year-on-year.
Unfortunately, his presumed replacement, the Brazilian Natan, has not filled the South Korean’s sizeable shoes at the heart of the defence. Again, how much of that is down to him and how much is due to the chaos at the club?
It certainly didn’t help that sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli followed Spalletti out the door in the summer, making the move to Juventus of all places.
But they still had the core of the title-winning side? Yes, but things have not been the same for myriad reasons.
Kvaratskhelia and Piotr Zielinski were left out of the side in Garcia’s last game, the form of Anguissa and others has dipped while Osimhen has been out of action since mid-October with a hamstring issue sustained on international duty.
That injury has been the least of Osimhen’s worries, with the club’s social media accounts comparing him to a coconut and openly mocking him in late September, which led to Thierry Henry and others rightly labelling it racist and “wrong on every level”.
The Nigerian star’s agent threatened legal action while the club attempted to calm the storm, but it appears certain Napoli’s crown jewel will depart next summer, as may the man re-named Kvaradona.
All of this and more has contributed to a poor start to the season, which has seen the champions win just half of their 12 league games, and just two of six at their one-time fortress of the Diego Armando Maradona stadium.
Neither Champions League group games have been won at the ground – a draw with a Union Berlin side that had lost 13 straight games was a low point – but they are in a strong position to progress as runners-up behind Real Madrid.
The final straw for Garcia came in front of his now-former home fans, an abysmal 1-0 stoppage time loss to second-bottom Empoli. The result left Napoli in fourth place but 10 points behind leaders Inter and the manager in no man’s land.
The writing had been on the walls for weeks and he was duly sacked after just 16 games.
With their season having the potential to spiral out of control, De Laurentiis has gone back ten years and on his word last summer of “I don’t think it would do any of my former coaches any good to bring them back but never say never.”
That last part has rung true with the return of Mazzarri to the hotseat. The 62-year-old managed Napoli from 2009 to 2013 to great success, winning the Coppa Italia and qualifying for the Champions League/European Cup, the first of each since Maradona’s days.
He was also the brains behind perhaps the best attacking triumvirate in club history, The Three Tenors: Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik, who played some of the most exhilarating football on the continent.
He knows the club, the fanbase and, maybe most importantly, the owner, but he has been sacked from all his jobs since his first run in Naples…although who hasn’t been binned by Watford? And he did keep them up.
His appointment appears very much a stop-gap until De Laurentiis goes deep sea fishing again next summer, with Antonio Conte rumoured to be his first choice (he has the chance to become the first man to coach three sides to Scudetto success). For now, though, Mazzarri is here to steady the ship, ensure a top-four finish and maybe surprise a team or two in Europe.
It can’t get any worse, can it?