Shocking night for Napoli against PSV: fourth consecutive away defeat. For Antonio Conte the alarm is sounding: the (rich) market is not yielding and the choices so far have not paid off
“A clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues make a test” wrote Agatha Christie. If so, four in a row make a problem and Napoli’s problem begins to take on the contours of a big problem because after Manchester, San Siro and Turin, even Eindhoven saw Antonio Conte’s team fall. Four away matches between the Champions League and the championship, four defeats in a row. The one in Holland was deserved beyond the result and the header with which the usual McTominay had opened the ball, deceiving the Neapolitans.
A year ago in the entire season, without European cups, Napoli had only fallen away from Maradona three times, one of which when fielding the reserves in the Italian Cup at the Olimpico against Lazio. A solidity that seems to have suddenly vanished and which will have to be resolved quickly. Getting slapped by PSV a few days before the Scudetto match against Inter is not the best way to goespecially because the reasons for concern concern everything: physical condition, performance of key players in the squad and functionality of the module that Conte has chosen to face the first part of the season.
Naples, the genesis of away defeats
Nothing worked in Eindhoven and if against Manchester City there was the excuse of the early numerical inferiority, at San Siro with Milan the alibi of errors in front of goal and in Turin those of the sudden failures of McTominay and Hojlund, the fall in Holland has its roots elsewhere. Napoli were put down both in terms of running and organization on the pitch, they practically didn’t react when they went down and got nothing from their headlights.
De Bruynealso hired to quickly grow a group with little experience in Europe, played a flat game. Like him Anguissa And Politano, Lucca he disappeared in the PSV defense and the rearguard was wrecked by a defeat that as the minutes passed took on the appearance of a humiliating defeat. Let’s be clear, the path in the Champions League is not compromised as is the league table, a mix that has yet to express clear hierarchies.
Conte, where is the De Laurentiis market?
The alarm is deeper because it calls into question the founding choices of the project signed by Conte and financed generously by De Laurentiis: the market is giving almost nothing, the reserves have no impact and the owners are struggling. It’s a surprise, considering the premises of the day before, and it cannot be explained as the coach from Lecce does by telling the story of the most difficult season, that of consolidation, of the young players to be launched and so on.
It is possible that the humiliating night in Eindhoven (2-6 and it could have ended worse) sounds like a wake-up call and provokes a reaction right from the match with Inter who have been waiting for a rematch since May. Or it could negatively impact the Neapolitan season. The promises were different, the progress so far has been disappointing.
