Luciano Spalletti had been making wine on his vineyard in Tuscany when the call from Napoli
came. Sacked by Inter in 2019 after a change of chief executive forced him out in favour
of Antonio Conte, Spalletti is nonetheless one of Italy’s most highly regarded coaches.
His start with Napoli has been impressive, and the side, driven
by the goals of Lorenzo Insigne and Victor Osimhen and a brilliant
defence marshalled by Kalidou Koulibably, will again challenge for the title.
Napoli have always been a tempestuous club. The side won their two Scudetti in a Maradona-inspired
fever dream [1986/87 and 1989/90], but their talisman was banned for a positive cocaine
test in 1990 having delivered the team’s second Serie A title and would never play for them again.
After, the side bobbed between Serie A and B before going bankrupt in 2004 and
being rescued by Italian film producer Aurelio De Laurentis.
Gennaro Gattuso added a sixth Coppa Italia win in 2019/20
but Napoli have failed to deliver in the last six years despite strong Serie A campaigns,
falling short of the title with back-to-back second place finishes under Maurizio Sarri and
Carlo Ancelotti [2017/18 and 2018/19], and with a further runners-up finish under Sarri in 2015/16.
Indeed, it feels like Napoli’s recent history has been about how to deal with Sarri’s legacy. Napoli
played some of the most elegant football seen in Europe under him. ‘Sarriball’ relied on huge
amounts of possession, quick, short pass and move sequences, and a constant high press. The midfield
three of Jorginho, Allan, and Marek Hamsik drove the side, while Dries Mertens and Insigne scored
the bulk of the goals. But Sarriball was intense, physically and mentally demanding,
and Sarri hardly rotated his squad. That meant Napoli would play brilliantly,
but then fall off in the second half of the season, creating fewer chances and allowing more.
Carlo Ancelotti and Gennaro Gattuso both sought to harness aspects of Sarri’s press and possess
style, while integrating new signings and making greater use of Napoli’s whole squad.
Ancelotti also brought greater verticality and an increased use of width and switch passes,
creating a kind of 2-4-4 shape in build-up. Gattuso also introduced a greater focus on
pressing out wide and a variable defensive line, which would fall back to quite a deep block when
Napoli were attacked centrally, but then rapidly push back up the pitch to compress space.
Spalletti’s reputation as a coach was built on early promotion successes with Empoli,
overachievement with Udinese, and the creation of Roma’s exciting, striker-less team built on the
talents of Francesco Totti. Twice a Coppa Italia winner and Serie A coach of the year in Rome,
Spalletti also has two Russian Premier League titles to his name with Zenit St Petersburg.
Spalletti’s system is a 4-3-3 and integrates aspects of his three predecessors to great effect.
Napoli’s possession-based game is reminiscent of Sarri’s desire to hog the ball,
and the team currently average the greatest percentage possession in the league
and complete the most passes with the greatest percentage success rate. They keep the ball on
the ground where possible and use a series of short passes while building up from the back,
as Ancelotti’s team did, in a kind of 2-4-4 or 2-3-5 but with a lot of depth between the lines.
Fabian Ruiz has been recast as the team’s Jorginho, patrolling in front of the back
line and linking play, capable of keeping the ball moving seamlessly as Napoli try
to bait the opposition press, or threading neat, penetrating through passes forwards.
Fulham loanee Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa will drop off to assist from right central midfield,
where his dynamic ball carrying also offers Napoli a means of progressing it, while Piotr
Zielinski pushes up into the left half-space from left central midfield to assist the attack.
The full backs stay deep initially as Napoli try to lure the opposition out,
ensuring multiple passing options in their own half, before pushing forwards. On the left Mario
Rui offers more width as Insigne drifts infield to combine with Zielinski or Osimhen, while Matteo
Politano offers more natural width from right wing, just as Jose Callejon did under Sarri.
Spalletti’s side look to manipulate the opposition defensive structure to create space between the
opponent’s defence and midfield, and then unleash the brilliant dribbling and running abilities
of their attackers. Attacking play can be structured, but in Osimhen and Insigne especially,
Napoli have two different, but equally dangerous, attackers who can exploit space.
Napoli get the ball into the opposition penalty area more than any other side, but also carry the
ball more frequently into the opposition half and opposition box than other Serie A teams.
This is because the short passing low build-up creates space which Napoli can
then drive into with the ball at feet, while their off-the-ball runners drag
defenders out of position or find space to receive dangerous passes in behind.
Defensively, Napoli don’t press a huge amount, partly because they have so much of the ball,
but they do win it back successfully from pressing often, fifth most in Serie A in fact. They focus
their pressing on the opposition’s defensive third, before creating a deep low block.
David Ospina’s defensive actions are the deepest in Serie A, and he ventures from his area least,
well protected by Koulibaly and Amir Rrahmani. As under Gattuso,
Napoli will then try to push up immediately having won back the ball, before beginning
their ball circulation to lure the opposition, or hitting it long for an immediate counter.
Spalletti’s tactics are a smart marriage of what has worked previously with this squad,
harmonising rather than innovating. And his use of Ruiz, for example,
shows a versatility and capable man-management too.
With 10 games played in Serie A, Napoli were top of the table, with both the best
defensive record by some distance and the lowest expected goals against. With Juventus rebuilding
and Inter less than they were, a first title scudetto since 1990 isn’t out of the question.