Gameday 1: Napoli 2 – Genoa 0

After an exciting summer of World Cup soccer, club action is back! The major leagues kicked off this weekend, including the English Premier League and Serie A.

As someone with Italian heritage, I’ve always found myself drawn to watching Serie A. The league isn’t the powerhouse it used to be, but to me, and many others, it is “our” league and the one we spend our weekends watching.

Unlike American sports, European football has a “transfer window,” which allows players to change teams during certain times of the year. There are two such windows: one in the summer and one in the winter.

So even though the season has kicked off, the summer window still has a week before it closes.

Napoli has been relatively inactive this summer window due to financial restraints, but I am expecting a semi-big move to occur over the next week. Personally, I find this strange. The season has started and the team isn’t set.

It just dawned on me how hypocritical that opinion is, considering Major League Baseball has a trade deadline that comes well into the season!

My primary team is Napoli.

I prepared for the game on Saturday, put my Napoli kit on, stepped on the treadmill, and watched the game.

The first half was a snooze fest. Napoli sat back, didn’t do much attacking, and defended off a few attacks by Genoa, a lower-rated team. Genoa actually looked like they might win the game.

Then came the second half.

Some substitutions added some life to the Napoli offense, and after a questionable call, Napoli was up 1–0. A few moments later, it was 2–0, and that’s how the game ended.

The final 20 minutes of the 90 were easily the most exciting part of this game and gave us fans some hope that there is life in this team.

Will Napoli compete for the Scudetto, the Serie A championship? Well, that is yet to be determined. Teams like Juventus and Inter Milan have gotten better over the summer.

But this game gave us hope that we can win, we can score, and anything is possible in sports, right?

My Team Review

Attack

The starting attack was boring. Not much happened, outside of a couple of really nice runs and crosses by Alisson Santos.

The problem was that he missed Højlund, and Politano was out of position for them.

It wasn’t until De Bruyne and Vergara came in that the offense showed some life.

Vergara had a great backheel assist and an accidental goal (that could have been disallowed).

But a goal is a goal!

Midfield

Lobotka, Zambo Anguissa, and McTominay started and all played well, but they were quiet.

McTominay didn’t get enough opportunities to attack, but I can’t complain too much about the midfield overall.

De Bruyne scored a goal, looked good, and most importantly, looked healthy.

That’s a big deal.

Defense

I don’t know.

I’m not overly happy with the defensive performance, but hey… they didn’t give up any goals, so they did something right.

Rrahmani is always in the right position, and I hope he has another solid season with Napoli.

Di Lorenzo did what he always does. I think Politano dropped back too much, which clogged the right side of the field and didn’t allow DiLo to perform the way he could have.

Spinazzola and Olivera at LB were… meh.

That may show just how much we will miss Gutiérrez after letting him go during this transfer window.

Rafa Marín started because of injuries and looked okay. Sometimes he looked very stiff, but again, no goals, so you can’t complain too much.

Alex Meret looks to be the #1 goalkeeper this season, with the highly touted Vanja Milinković-Savić on the bench.

Meret looked pretty good. He just needs to stay consistent throughout the season and avoid the moments of relapse we’ve seen from him in the past.

Overall

A solid showing by Napoli.

They got the win, and that is the biggest thing.

New coach. New season. High expectations.

Against a mid-table team, this is a game Napoli has to win, especially if they have any hope of finishing in the top four—or even winning the title.

My Player of the Game goes to Antonio Vergara for his goal and assist.

Next Up: Como

Game 2 against Como will be a tougher game, but Napoli will be at home at the Maradona, and they are hard to beat there.

I just hope Allegri lets the offense play a little more and stops playing so defensively.

That style is old.

And beatable.