The defeat in Turin confirms: the new players were supposed to expand the squad but they have little impact. Elmas and Beukema also did badly
Looking at them with eyes lined with pounds, or perhaps with euros which then do the same, leaves some doubts: because from this summer of around two hundred million euros – a big market not a big market – Napoli are mainly left with a series of doubts and even a hint of fear. If Hojlund and De Bruyne weren’t there, and well we’re talking about the top, it would be chatter and badges, while now, rereading the rankings and thinking again that certain things can also happen, well it’s legitimate to simply ask ourselves a few questions: but when will Lucca manage to be a 35 million center forward, as per the (hyper) evaluation? And will Beukema, the defender who cost 32 million and wanted almost as if there were no tomorrow, become “central” in the broadest sense of the term sooner or later? But will there be a moment, another, for Lang, or should the learning period, probably included in the 25 million euros, be considered six-monthly? Where has gone to that Elmas who, with Spalletti, systematically coming in from the bench, knew how to resolve even the most poisonous practices?
Is there a problem?
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Without going to Houston, something is wrong as the statistics whisper which may or may not need reading: and beyond the three defeats (City, Milan and then Torino), the impact of the new player who should advance was less overbearing than expected. Kevin De Bruyne floats on a performance that may not be in line with his history but equally remains reassuring for what he has managed to offer, in stylistic and also practical matters; and Hojlund, who scored a total of 26 goals in the Premier League and various cups at Manchester United in two years, took the stage in his own way: nothing to complain about, of course. Napoli are lacking the surprise effect in the offensive phase, and that should have been guaranteed by Lang, who arrived to be more or less inside a trident or work hard to be there, then penalized by the abundance of midfielders and by the search or need for balance which remain laudable intentions. Lang has seen very little of the pitch, he was unlucky in Turin, when the VAR caught him offside by the millimeter, but overall he hasn’t won over Conte yet: Eindhoven is his home, he spent two years there, he won two titles there in very close sequence, so he’s the character of tomorrow’s match, but, oh well, maybe he’ll start on the bench, unless….
Ouch, the defense
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Beukema, the obsession of a month and a half, has not yet managed to become dominant, a guarantee of mastery of a sector that without Rrahmani and also without Buongiorno has faltered and collapsed for seven consecutive games: personal responsibilities, few, because the errors belong to the group, but still a presence without the authority of the recent past.
The nine and the last minute
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Being two meters and one centimeter tall, Lucca shows in all its enormity the discomfort of those who would like but do not know – not now – how to be able to bear the responsibility of being Hojlund’s assistant after having been Lukaku’s assistant: a goal against Pisa, of physicality and also of beauty, was a light among the shadows of this start, in which the opponent’s penalty area seemed too narrow to him, while in Udine (14 goals in everything) was completely his. In Eindhoven he will have another one available. Elmas arrived right at the last moment, almost at the sound of the siren, as an extra midfielder to lengthen the squad and to have an extra choice, especially when Anguissa will leave for the Africa Cup of Nations: the strategies were modified by Lukaku’s injury, which shifted Napoli’s main attention to Hojlund, forced to give up a midfielder who had physicality and could act as a breakwater. Elmas has become an alternative profile, he is so different, more of a midfielder than anything else, perhaps even more of a winger, certainly many things – as demonstrated with Spalletti, 6 goals in the championship year – and in this team he has been able to take on little, what (clearly) leaves the Fab Four. Who would have thought it in August?
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