Napoli vs Juventus on Friday night is a colossal clash between the top two sides in the Serie A table. It is also a clash between two different philosophies who both have Scudetto ambitions.
Napoli hasn’t won the Scudetto for over 30 years and they’re getting even closer this time than they did when Maurizio Sarri was manager.
Despite many departures in the summer of 2022, Luciano Spalletti’s team has been able to find a greater balance on the pitch and hasn’t suffered from the departure of three historic leaders – Lorenzo Insigne, Kalidou Koulibaly and Dries Mertens.
Napoli will take an enormous step towards winning the Scudetto if they can overcome Juve
But if Juventus get the three points in Naples, the Serie A title race is very much back on
Napoli have a seven-point cushion at the Serie A summit and could move 10 clear of Juventus
Napoli now need to be fearless in their pursuit of the results they need and maintain a continuity that they haven’t ever managed in their post-Maradona existence.
Juventus will need to resists an onslaught from Spalletti’s men that will be designed to crush them. If they can do that avoid defeat, Max Allegri’s team will retain a hope of overhauling the leaders.
Here are the areas where Friday night’s contest could be won and lost.
COLD WAR BETWEEN THE COACHES
At the press conferences, Allegri said the Napoli match ‘won’t be decisive’, which was met with a very aggressive response from Spalletti.
The Napoli coach said: ‘Allegri can also remove his beard and fake hair because he knows he has a team that is built to win the most important matches.’
The confrontation between the two coaches perfectly encapsulates the chess match on the field.
Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti hit back at his Juventus counterpart Max Allegri this week
After a nightmare start, Juventus managed to recover many points to climb up to second in the standings – albeit seven points behind Napoli.
Allegri’s football is very solid and eight consecutive victories resulted from the moment Leonardo Bonucci was placed on the bench to bring Bremer to the fore and with Alex Sandro made into a central defender.
BAD FOOTBALL vs CHAMPAGNE FOOTBALL
The two coaches only have their region of birth – Tuscany – in common.
At the present time in Italian football, the pair represent an ideological clash between the past and the future.
Spalletti teaches football perhaps even better than Sarri did and has a greater predisposition to arrange his teams based on the players’ technical characteristics.
Max Allegri doesn’t play the most attractive football but Juventus do manage to get results
With him, everyone improves and the market value of the likes of Victor Osimhen, Kim Min-jae, Stanislav Lobotka and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa has shot up.
For Allegri, being spectacular is a secondary component and every results that obtains three points is better than having 90 per cent possession.
On average, Allegri wins 70 per cent of matches 1-0, obtaining many clean sheets and choosing to leave the initiative to his opponents.
Napoli stayed on course for the title with an important 2-0 win at Sampdoria on Sunday
Spalletti asks his players to have total control of the game and orders his defenders to be very tall when Napoli have to crush opponents in their own half.
When it comes to defending, Allegri transforms the 3-5-2 into a 5-4-1 and forces his team to block the way to Wojciech Szczesny’s goal.
This ancient style of play has allowed Juventus to move from seventh to second in the Serie A table. The fans may not be enthused by the Old Lady’s brand of football but the resulted have so far vindicated the coach.
BUNKER DEFENCES
The confrontation will feature the long-distance clash between the two best defenders in Serie A – Kim and Bremer.
Both are in their first year at a top Italian club and they have very similar attributes. Both are the nightmare of every striker because they are fast and physically very strong.
However, the Brazilian No 3 of Juventus has a better technique than the South Korean at Napoli.
Brazilian defender Bremer has established himself as a commanding presence at Juventus
Juve’s defence is the best in Serie A with just seven goals conceded in 17 matches, while Napoli’s is the second-best with 13 conceded.
Juventus play with three men and it’s all-Brazilian. They found greater stability when Allegri realised the 3-5-2 was better suited to Bremer’s characteristics.
Napoli is built in the image and likeness of Spalletti with a very solid four-man defence despite their full-backs being very aggressive in the last 40 metres of the pitch.
Kim min-jae (left) is enjoying an outstanding season as Napoli press for a historic title win
Kim will have to control Arkadiusz Milik, while Bremer will need to be glued to Osimhen for 90 minutes and there must be no mistakes one-on-one.
The final result will depend on the defensive precision of the two teams, which sees the two defenders who have achieved the best performances of their careers in the past 12 months as protagonists.
LOBOTKA IS THE PLAYER JUVENTUS ARE MISSING
Napoli tied down midfielder Lobotka for another four years through until 2027. During Gattuso’s period, Lobotka was considered a mediocre player who was too fat and slow for the pace of Italian football.
The arrival of Spalletti has changed judgements on the playmaker, who in the space of two years has become one of the best interpreters of his role.
Stanislav Lobotka has excelled for Napoli is is the kind of midfield player Juventus would like
Napoli has a phenomenal player that Carlo Ancelotti would like at Real Madrid. He performs better in Italian football than Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic and who would actually be perfect in the heart of the Juventus midfield.
The No 1 danger for Juventus in the match is him, given his strength of character and amazing technique. Adrien Rabiot will be his main enemy but Lobotka is very good at lowering his centre of gravity by evading the pressure of opponents.
MILIK’S REVENGE
Almost five months out of the team and a golden exile in France with Marseille have not satisfied Milik’s desire for revenge.
The Polish striker wants retribution for the treatment he received from Napoli and he hopes to enrol on the list of strikers who score against their former clubs.
Gonzalo Higuain succeeded years ago, bringing his career goals against Napoli to six as a Juventus players. Tonight, Milik will also try to score against his former club.
Arkadiusz Milik celebrates his goal for Juventus against Cremonese earlier this month
In the coming weeks, loanee Milik will be bought by Juventus for £6.5million and will become 100 per cent their player.
A goal against Napoli would celebrate a perfect transfer market operation which has allowed the Italian club to acquire one of Europe’s most prolific strikers at a symbolic price.
