Napoli Women are struggling to guarantee their “survival” in Serie A Women following a bad season start with only negative results so far. It is true that Napoli achieved excellent results last season in Serie B and were able to win their promotion to Serie A with merit.
Yet, this start of the season has not gone the way Biagio Seno and his staff would’ve wanted, enduring six losses in six games so far, including one loss against Milan, one against Inter Milan and another against Fiorentina, knowing that they are yet to play against Juventus and Roma.
Finishing in the last spot in the standings at the end of the first phase does not mean that Napoli will be relegated to Serie B since all of the five last teams in the standings will have to go through the playout phase or “the relegation round”, which would determine who will drop and who will stay in Serie A.
Nevertheless, failing to get a fair number of points in the regular phase and especially failing to win or draw against teams of a similar level can make things a lot more problematic for Napoli since consecutive losses can quickly deteriorate the players’ morale, confidence and motivation levels.
This negative psychological impact can also be crucial to the team during the relegation phase, eventually affecting their performances and ability to win games. Therefore, identifying weaknesses and working on improving what is going wrong for the team will be highly essential during the following period so as to get out of the dark zone and start winning some points to get the players’ individual and collective confidence back.
In this regard, our tactical analysis article in the form of a scout report will aim at identifying Napoli’s main attacking and defensive weaknesses, relying on extensive analysis of the team’s tactics while assessing Seno’s player choices and exploring how to find the best possible formation.
Napoli’s defensive weaknesses
From a defensive perspective, we can argue that Napoli do not concede many goals per game, as they have never conceded more than two goals per match during this season so far. With an average of one to two conceded goals, Napoli have been able to guard their goal well and avoid conceding painful results. Nevertheless, the team’s defensive organisation needs a lot of work in order to be able to make clean sheets during games and help the team get some draws, and they might win some games if the attacking performance improves as well!
Avoiding losses against teams with similar levels will be essential for Napoli in the coming period. And in order to achieve that goal, the team’s midfield defence will have to be much more concentrated when having the ball in their own half. The lack of chemistry and the misunderstanding between the players sometimes cost the team a lot, as such errors usually result in conceded goals.
One of Napoli’s most remarkable defensive mistakes this season occurred against Como in a way that could have been avoided. Susanna Joy Friedrichs attempted to pass the ball to her closest teammate in this picture since she was subject to pressing from Como’s winger.
As a result, the centre-back Paola Di Marino was surprised by the pass and strangely did not attempt to control the ball, letting it reach Como’s completely unmarked striker. Martina Di Bari was not even aware of the striker’s quick movement without the ball, and therefore, she noticed that movement when it was too late.
Ultimately, Napoli’s defensive organisation lacked chemistry, attention to opposing movements and continuous tight marking on this occasion, and this failure to defend well against Como’s attacking efforts cost them the three points at the end of the day.
Credits: FIGC Calcio Femminile
Moreover, conceding goals due to poor clearances and inaccurate passes made by defenders in dangerous areas is something that needs to be reviewed by Seno as soon as possible, knowing that clearances always need to be executed towards relatively more secure spots such as both flanks or the opponent’s half.
This example clearly highlights Napoli’s lack of defensive experience when dealing with complex situations that require fluidity and reasonable yet quick reactions. Paola Di Marino was unable to clear the ball away in the needed way here as she didn’t even look at her surroundings before executing the pass, which led to providing a pass to the opponent, who found herself on a clear path to find the net.
Credits: FIGC Calcio Femminile
Although the Azzurre can defend set pieces well, they tend to lose concentration and commit marking mistakes, especially during the last minutes of games, which can be due to fatigue at times. Napoli’s errors during the final minutes also cost them too much, and the lack of disciplined defensive organisation once again is at the heart of Napoli’s defensive weaknesses. In fact, errors related to getting distracted about marking or not marking the right player at the right time confirm that Napoli’s defence lacks discipline regarding collective and individual duties.
The following conceded goal against Milan occurred in the 96th minute when Napoli’s defenders got distracted during a free-kick, leaving a dangerous player like Emelyne Laurent alone inside the box. It is true that they quickly tried to catch her before she scored, yet the initial distance left between Napoli’s defenders and Laurent was considerable to the point that Napoli’s defenders’ attempts were not successful as Laurent didn’t leave them a lot of time before shooting on goal.
Credits: FIGC Calcio Femminile
Another big issue that faces Seno and Napoli’s defensive performances is the lack of dynamism and reactivity during counterattacks and, most of all, the inability to cope with opposing forwards’ speed. This problem makes Napoli suffer, especially when they play with a higher defensive bloc.
Napoli’s defenders showed on numerous occasions that they are unable to run fast enough to challenge their opponents’ accelerations inside the final third. What is even more worrying is that some attacking players were even able to start running from behind the defensive line before getting to the ball before Napoli’s defenders, such as in this example against Sampdoria.
During this action, Michela Giordano was able to easily surpass three Napoli defenders, knowing that she was way behind them when the through pass was about to be executed. This clearly highlights a big issue in Napoli’s defence, which requires short and long-term solutions.
Credits: FIGC Calcio Femminile
The Azzurre’s attacking issues
In terms of attacking performances, we can argue that Napoli reach their opponents’ penalty box in an average yet not very frequent way, which is already good, especially when knowing that these chances are created against teams with compact defences. Nevertheless, Napoli’s main attacking issue is related to finishing and dealing with the final touch.
Although the team do not really face significant issues in playmaking and in reaching their strikers, what really needs to be addressed is Marija Banušić, Eli del Estal and Paloma Lázaro’s finishing abilities and especially their concentration in front of goal. Being able to become more clinical in that area and missing fewer chances would automatically mean starting to gain points and raising the team’s confidence levels.
The following picture shows one of Napoli’s numerous missed occasions due to Banušić’s lack of accuracy and concentration in front of Milan’s goal despite having the necessary time to finish the action in the needed way, knowing that she was not even tightly marked or disturbed.
Credits: FIGC Calcio Femminile
Decision-making in such circumstances is also essential because going for lobs requires accuracy and an adequate technique. Banušić, however, lacked the body coordination and shooting technique to direct her shot towards the goal.
In addition, a recurrent mistake for Napoli’s strikers is the precipitation when executing the final touch, which often makes it wrong. This second big occasion that came to Banušić also shows that the problem is also related to concentration and the ability to shoot consistently towards the goal since she had enough time to coordinate her body and decide the angle of her shot. Nevertheless, Banušić missed this chance too and could not score from a clear goalscoring situation.
Credits: FIGC Calcio Femminile
Required tactical changes
From a defensive perspective, Seno will have to avoid playing with a high defensive block during the upcoming games to avoid conceding dangerous counterattacks since most of the defensive players at his disposal are not quick enough to cope with some forwards’ pace. Trying to play the quickest defenders in the team as regular centre-backs would also be a reasonable short-term solution.
Moreover, a long-term solution for having slow defenders is to try opting for more dynamic and pacy defenders during the next transfer window while not neglecting physical strength and player marking abilities when making the choices.
From an attacking perspective, Napoli will have to find at least a slightly more clinical striker or improve the finishing quality of their own strikers to exploit the numerous created chances per match in a more concrete and useful way.
As a short-term solution, and when considering that Banušić’s xG is 0.3, Eli del Estal’s is 0.25, and Paloma Lázaro’s is 0.51, it would be wiser to rely on Lázaro more in the coming period at the expense of the other two strikers, based on the three players’ shooting accuracy as well. In addition, fixing one or two formations at maximum would help the team find more chemistry, especially in the attacking phase, as this would make the players’ attacking movements and plans more automatic and quicker. As a result, defending against their attacking actions would be more complicated for opponents.
Alternating between the 4-3-3 and the 4-4-2 formations would help Napoli a lot, as the first would exploit the abilities of wingers alongside a single striker. In contrast, the second would enable the team to make use of two strikers while keeping two compact defensive lines. At the same time, avoiding mixing things a lot, like using various other formations that might confuse the players, such as the 4-3-1-2 and the 4-5-1, would help them have clear ideas and perform better on the pitch.
Conclusion
Napoli Women will need to start winning some points very soon to regain their confidence and start attacking and defending with conviction. This will eventually enhance their goalscoring statistics and help them defend with more compactness and aggressivity. Seno will also need to find ways to guarantee more stability in terms of formations and player duties to find more chemistry between the players in the attacking and defensive phases.
If the Azzurre succeed in winning some points in the regular phase, this will give them a push to battle with conviction for remaining in Serie A during the playout phase. At the same time, if Seno successfully applies the necessary solutions to the defensive and attacking issues stated above, they still have a chance to get away from the relegation battle from the regular phase, even though that wouldn’t be an easy task for Napoli.
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