Italian football is not short of passionate and intense rivalries.
Few rivalries in world football can be as passionate as Napoli and Juventus.
This rivalry represents the cultural and economic divide between the north and south of the country.
The latest on-field instalment of this rivalry occurred Saturday, with Antonio Conte’s Gli Azzurri ending the 21-game Serie A unbeaten run of Thiago Motta’s Vecchia Signora.
Goals from André-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Romelu Lukaku sealed a 2-1 win at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona after Randal Kolo Muani had earlier opened the scoring in Juve’s favour.
This post-match tactical analysis aims to highlight the aspects of Conte’s tactics that ensured his side edged out Juve and emerged victorious from Saturday’s clash, remaining top of Serie A.
Ultimately, this game witnessed a fascinating strategic battle for supremacy in the middle of the park between two well-organised outfits.
Napoli’s André-Frank Zambo Anguissa led high-pressing approach and the Neapolitans' attacking central midfield roles proved vital to Conte’s tactical thwarting of Motta on this occasion.
Napoli Vs Juventus Lineups & Formations
Starting with the hosts, Conte set his team up in a 4-3-3 shape for Saturday’s fixture, with Alex Meret playing between the sticks behind a back-four of right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo, right centre-back Amir Rrahmani, left centre-back Juan Jesus and left-back Leonardo Spinazzola.
Stanislav Lobotka occupied the holding midfield position for Gli Azzurri with André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (right) and Scott McTominay (left) playing as Napoli’s ‘8s’.
Matteo Politano was on Napoli’s right wing, with David Neres playing opposite him on the left, while Romelu Lukaku led the line for Conte’s side from the centre-forward position.
Napoli’s 55-year-old coach made four substitutions during Saturday’s game, all of which occurred quite late on in the contest.
Firstly, Pasquale Mazzocchi replaced Politano in the 82nd minute, a defensive switch from Conte, who wanted to help his side hold onto their lead late in the game.
Next, Billy Gilmour and Giovanni Simeone came on for Lobotka and Lukaku, respectively, in the 89th minute.
Napoli’s final change saw Cyril Ngonge replace Neres in stoppage time.
As for the visitors, Motta lined his Juventus side up in a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Michele Di Gregorio started in goal for La Vecchia Signora, with Weston McKennie at right-back, Federico Gatti at right centre-back, Pierre Kalulu at left centre-back and Andrea Cambiaso at left-back.
Manuel Locatelli lined up alongside Khéphren Thuram in the holding midfield positions for Juve, with Teun Koopmeiners playing as a free-roaming ‘10’ in front of the central midfield duo.
Kenan Yıldız played at right wing for Juve while Nicolás González started on the left.
Randal Kolo Muani made his debut for the club at centre-forward.
Motta ordered five changes to his starting XI over the course of the match.
In the 65th minute, Samuel Mbangula and Nicolò Savona came on in place of Yıldız and Cambiaso.
Then, about 10 minutes later, Juve performed another double switch.
Douglas Luiz was introduced for Locatelli, while Francisco Conceição replaced Nicolás González.
Juve’s final change was completed in the 82nd minute—at the same time as Napoli made their first—with Dušan Vlahović coming on for debutant Kolo Muani up front.
Thiago Motta’s Press
Progressing into the tactical analysis, we will analyse these two teams’ respective pressing approaches—a crucial part of the midfield battle which defined this game.
Napoli Vs Juventus Defensive Territory Map
The image highlights how Napoli pressed higher than the away side in this game.
Indeed, Conte’s side relied on an aggressive approach without the ball.
Meanwhile, Juventus primarily pressed from a high-mid-block, counting on their defensive organisation and structure to stop Napoli’s ball progression.
Napoli Vs Juventus High Regains Map
Naturally, Conte’s aggressive pressing tactics led to his side earning more high regains than their opponents.
Napoli had almost twice as many high regains as Juventus in this game.
Crucially, they also made four dangerous recoveries to Juventus’ one—a key factor in Gli Azzurri’s superior threat on Saturday.
As stated above, Juventus pressed from a high-mid-block, allowing Napoli’s centre-backs time and space on the ball.
They would press aggressively from the blind side if a central midfielder received a pass from Napoli’s centre-backs/goalkeeper and, likewise, would press Napoli’s full-backs aggressively if they received while positioned a line higher than the centre-halves—parallel to Napoli’s deepest central midfielder.
Kolo Muani would typically position himself to keep Napoli’s holding midfielder in his cover shadow, shifting across to shadow that potential receiver as Napoli’s centre-backs circulated the ball between themselves.
Meanwhile, Juve’s wingers would keep Napoli’s wingers in their cover shadows.
If the ball were played to Napoli’s full-back despite this, as was the case in figure 4, for instance, the nearby winger and central midfielder would quickly close in on the player, putting him under pressure and, usually, engineering a turnover thanks to the well-structured nature of Juve’s compact shape.
Juventus’ defensive tactics were designed to frustrate Napoli and keep them in the build-up phase for as long as possible to force riskier passes that would lead to losses of possession, which was a moderately successful out-of-possession approach.
Risky passes, passes into midfielders facing their own goal, and loose touches were all pressing triggers that led to turnovers in Juventus’ favour during this game.
The intelligent off-the-ball movement was vital for SSC Napoli if they were to successfully progress through the centre against such a well-organised defence in Saturday’s game.
Figures 5 and 6 perhaps show Napoli’s best bit of ball progression, which encapsulates their ideal in-possession approach versus Juve.
Firstly, Lobotka drew Juventus’ centre-forward towards him, opening up a passing lane between the left centre-back and McTominay, who was able to receive and quickly play the ball forward via the wing, helping Napoli enter Juventus’ half.
As the play moves on, we see how Anguissa’s penetrating run gave right-back Di Lorenzo a solid through passing option from the wing, helping Napoli quickly enter the final third.
Due to Juve's organised defence, Napoli had few opportunities to progress quickly through the middle of the park.
However, this shows one example of how intelligent off-the-ball movement and incisive passing could combine to help them carve out opportunities.
Juventus were usually too good to let this kind of penetration occur.
Conte’s side did have plenty of opportunities to progress via the wings, where more space was afforded to them throughout the game.
Wingers Politano and Neres and full-backs Di Lorenzo and Spinazzola performed well with their dribbles.
They created many crossing opportunities for their side, which also kept their opponents on the back foot.
However, Conte’s high press and the role of Napoli’s central midfielders ultimately turned the game in favour of Gli Azzurri.
Antonio Conte’s High Press
Napoli were far more likely to press Juve’s centre-backs, which they did heavily throughout Saturday’s game.
We see one example above.
When pressing high, Napoli’s shape often resembled more of a 4-3-1-2 / 3-4-1-2 shape, with Anguissa joining Lukaku up front and McTominay offering support behind as a defensive ‘10’.
Meanwhile, Napoli’s wingers often dropped off a bit deeper alongside Lobotka, covering Juventus’ wide passing options around the middle third of the pitch.
Above, we see how Napoli’s aggressive and persistent high press forced Juventus into conceding a throw-in quite far into their own half on this occasion.
Napoli’s high press helped them create their equalising goal in the 56th minute.
Anguissa and Politano’s pressure on the wide ball carrier initially helped the aggressive midfielder intercept centrally.
After winning the ball back, Anguissa carried it forward into the final third before taking a shot which was blocked.
Napoli regained possession on the edge of the final third via Politano, who fired a hard pass to Lukaku.
The Belgian striker’s hold-up play bought Napoli time in the box before he played it back to Politano.
Then, the move all came full circle as the winger’s cross found Anguissa in the box to head it home.
This move was started and finished by Anguissa, beginning with the midfielder intercepting it centrally and ending with him heading it from a striker’s position.
Both Anguissa and McTominay spent time quite high upfield when their team was in possession during this game, per Conte’s tactics, which deployed one of them, always, as an aggressive ‘8’ supporting Lukaku as an auxiliary second-striker.
Anguissa was crucial in creating Napoli’s first goal in this role, while McTominay did so for Napoli’s second goal, winning a penalty for Gli Azzurri later on.
This auxiliary second-striker role for the ‘8s’ bought space for Lukaku and themselves, creating an additional problem for Juve’s centre-backs, which divided their attention to disastrous consequences for La Vecchia Signora.
Teun Koopmeiners Touch Map
There were also a few times when Juventus successfully carved through Napoli’s defensive shape—including for Juve’s goal.
The free-roaming role of Teun Koopmeiners was pivotal in this ball progression—see the ‘10’s touch map from the game above.
The Dutchman favoured the right side of the pitch and often dropped into a right-back position to occupy space.
This space opened up when Weston McKennie moved high, and Neres marked him closely.
However, Koopmeiners was crucially involved higher on the right wing for Juventus’ goal.
Starting from deep on the right—again, open because Neres is focusing on marking McKennie—centre-back Gatti can take his time and find Yıldız in the right half-space.
After some link-up with McKennie, the ball is played to Locatelli, whose run through the centre, behind Napoli’s midfielders, puts him in a great position to go on and carry it into the final third.
Once in the final third, he finds Koopmeiners out wide on the right.
From there, Koopmeiners plays a key role in Juve twice putting the ball into the box before it falls to Kolo Muani, who can skillfully volley it into the bottom corner of the net.
Conclusion
On Saturday, both teams implemented well-organised pressing structures, which made it very difficult to play through the centre of the pitch.
Intelligent off-the-ball movement and brave progressive passing were critical when these sides were able to play through the centre.
Juventus struggled with Napoli’s high press more than Napoli struggled with Juve’s, leading to Conte’s side generating more chances through their out-of-possession approach.
Napoli’s aggressive pressing ultimately made Juve’s defenders more uncomfortable on the ball.
Though Napoli were sometimes forced into silly mistakes by Juve’s press, and—especially early on in the game—Juventus were able to create some good chances in transition as a result of the turnover, those moments were too few and far between in comparison to the chances Gli Azzurri made through their high press.
The sheer volume of chances Napoli created through their pressing, in addition to the key attacking roles of their two ‘8s’, led to two goals.
At the same time, Conte’s side successfully limited their opponents to one, despite the quality in their side.
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