Napoli – Cagliari: McFratm Ignites The Scudetto Fireworks (2-0)
The Scudetto returned to Neapolitan hands after Napoli secured victory over Cagliari. After the promise of high drama and swinging outcomes, Antonio Conte’s team produced one of their more comfortable performances of the season.
Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.
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Going into the Scudetto decider, Napoli oversaw their own destiny. Win and Inter would have no hope in catching them, but anything else and the title would be put in huge jeopardy.
Napoli should have had a stronger hand going into the final day. Under Conte, this team has always been limited in goals, which caught up with them when they barely created anything in Parma: only Pedro’s double at the San Siro would keep Napoli in prime position. Conte’s position at the Maradona is in doubt, with rumors of a Juve return hanging over the heads of the title discourse. Nevertheless, two seasons after breaking a 33-year wait for the title, times like this have been a rarity for Neapolitans, and there would be no better location to clinch the crown.
The opponent, Davide Nicola’s Cagliari. The silver-haired survival specialist has made a habit of keeping teams in Serie A, from Crotone to Genoa on the final day to Salernitana and Empoli (also on the final day) in the more recent years. Thankfully for Conte, Nicola has already secured safety for Cagliari, but he would be sure to offer a grueling game. Roberto Piccoli is a reliable outlet, whilst Napoli’s game plan often enables the opponent to have spells of control themselves. The objective may be straightforward, but the opponent would not be a pushover.
Conte faced a number of injury problems going into the title decider. Stanislav Lobotka went off injured ten minutes into the draw against Genoa, whilst center-backs Alessandro Buongiorno and Juan Jesus have been out for a while. All three would be on the bench, and Conte kept to the same starting eleven that faced Parma last Sunday, even if Conte would not be on the bench himself due to serving a suspension.
Nicola made just two changes from the team that beat Venezia 3-0, to secure survival. Goalkeeper Elia Caprile, on loan from the league leaders, missed out with a muscle injury. Alen Sherri took his place. The other change, to his 3-5-2 formation, would come in the attack as the injured Zito Luvumbo was out for Nicolas Viola.
Putting pressure from the start
Napoli’s buildup has been missing keynotes throughout the season, but they have been capable of controlling the ball in the first half of matches, and this would be no exception. After very cautious man-to-man pressing, Cagliari were more than happy to drop off into a 5-3-2/5-1-2-2 medium-to-low block, with wide center-midfielders stepping outward to try and keep the ball towards the channels. Against the narrow front two, Billy Gilmour sat between Amir Rrahmani and Mathías Olivera so that either center-back could carry the ball into the flanks. With Cagliari firmly in this narrow block, space was available for Conte’s team to circulate into.
The injury to David Neres has seen Napoli play without a designated left-winger; both Scott McTominay and Giacomo Raspadori have situationally moved into wide positions, but the width provider has come from Leonardo Spinazzola, pushing up from the fullback spot. In the halfspace, Raspadori and McTominay serve very different roles. McTominay looks to collect and carry the ball from the half-turn, often taking the ball forward in a very direct manner. Raspadori drops in a more connective way, but his strengths come in his runs into space and making dummy movements so the ball could funnel into Romelu Lukaku’s feet. Throughout the first phases of the game, the left-side dynamic was able to progress as Michel Ndary Adopo was engaged with Olivera, Antoine Makoumbou (the central center-midfielder) shifted to cover the runner, but Gabriele Zappa was hesitant in jumping far towards the Scotsman.
6th minute: Access down the left channel led to a dangerous cross, which almost met Frank Anguissa. As Olivera stepped forward with possession, Adopo jumped outward, but Nadir Zortea still showed Spinazzola inside. Huge spaces between the lines saw McTominay receive on the half-turn and Raspadori made his run behind Zappa, who could not intercept the channel pass.
These types of progressions were not the direct substance of Napoli’s creativity. However, Spinazzola, Matteo Politano and Giovanni Di Lorenzo all had high access from early on so that they could cross the ball. In the box, Lukaku, McTominay, Anguissa and even Rrahmani were all willing to get into attacking positions, and Napoli had some close opportunities early on. After Cagliari failed to appropriately clear a corner, Raspadori took a touch and his low shot just inside the penalty area squirmed wide of the post. The first major chance after four minutes.
A transition from a Cagliari corner produced some poor defending from Tommaso Augello and Spinazzola teed up Gilmour in the penalty area, after the midfielder made an excellent run inside of the recovering Zortea. His shot was saved, but Politano failed to keep the rebound low. On the right side, Napoli can still run some of the routines from the previous title-winning team. Anguissa appeared on the right touchline, and as Raspadori laterally moved to receive, Anguissa opted for Di Lorenzo’s halfspace run past Alessandro Deiola. Lukaku was free on the square pass, but the attempt was too close to the goalkeeper.
Fourteen minutes in and Politano dribbled around Augello, after the center-back had jumped towards the touchline to meet him. Huge space opened inside of the Cagliari box as the low cross went in: Rrahmani was able to touch and turn around the defense, but his shot was the perfect height for Alen Sherri to handle.
Mina vs Lukaku
Of all the matchups this game had to offer, Yerry Mina tussling with Lukaku would be heavily contested. After all, back in September, Lukaku made four fouls and three would be on the Colombian, whilst Mina made two fouls on the striker and both received a booking. This would be in a similar nature again, and Cagliari is one of the few opponents that Lukaku could try to do his trademark back-to-goal work, due to their midfielders being encouraged to work in both the first line of the press and the defensive line. As Mina maintained no separation, this duel would come to life as soon as Napoli could bypass Cagliari’s forwards around the halfway line.
In the first half, it was clear that Mina would have the upper hand in this regard. Napoli’s medium-long distanced mechanics may have been primed for Victor Osimhen (dinked pass from halfspace to outward run, or Politano’s left-footed pass, from the touchline over the defensive line), but Lukaku struggled to turn back inside or tee up another attacker in the process. Of course, the two duelling would not be without some antics: for example, Mina’s slow-motion DDT by the corner flag, as the ball rolled to a complete stop on the byline.
As news filtered that Inter had taken the lead at Como, the Maradona’s volume briefly lowered, but Napoli would still be the more threatening. However, Mina’s defensive control was denying the box access that they had started the game with. On the left side, Spinazzola would have direct access inside towards Lukaku, who moved into the halfspace. Mina stopped Lukaku from turning, and although the Belgian moved the ball to McTominay/Raspadori, Cagliari had the bodies back to compact around the pass back and Makoumbou dropped to support Mina.
22nd minute: Napoli had access to the box, but Cagliari stopped the left side from creating. As Spinazzola could still freely move the ball back inside, Lukaku became more of an option in the final third. However, Adopo followed Raspadori’s run, and Lukaku faced a two-versus-one with his back to goal. In this phase, Raspadori gained separation from Adopo, but the lay-off put him further out wide and Makoumbou dispossessed the Italian.
Even when Lukaku managed to turn past the center-back, when Spinazzola found Raspadori first in a deeper buildup move, the huge frame of Mina managed to block Lukaku from directly pulling his shot off. Napoli may have had the territory, but Cagliari were starting to move the game into a more frustrating position for them.
A flying Scotsman causes an eruption
Zortea and Zappa often moved into wide positions. So, when Napoli circulated towards the center, they were able to hit a runner into the halfspace against the grain of the ball’s movement. However, with this runner moving from right-to-left, usually one of the midfielders, it meant that the Cagliari center-back had a much higher chance of forcing them away from goal.
Napoli was still oriented towards the channels, but at least they had crossing abilities and suitable targets to aim for, or spaces for a second opportunity to fall for a deeper player. This would come to Spinazzola after a goal-kick was turned over and the ball funneled from the left of Napoli to Politano on the touchline. After skipping around Augello, Sherri palmed his cross straight towards the fullback, but his first shot was saved, and the second was blocked.
Four minutes before half-time and Augello’s tame defending made ground for Politano to adjust once more. This time, he was able to shift the ball onto his left foot for an inswinger and with Mina guarding the front post on Lukaku, McTominay took up position towards the center of the goal. A fantastic scissor kick was too much for Sherri, an incredible goal which ignited the flares, fireworks and horns, inside and outside of the ground. A crucial opener before half-time.
Nicola adopts another approach
Cautious man-marking turned into much more aggressive man-marking from Cagliari. Viola and Piccoli sat between the wide center-back split and double pivot. As the strikers jumped towards the center-backs or Alex Meret, this would be supported by Deiola jumping towards Anguissa, Adopo towards Gilmour and the wing-backs onto Napoli’s fullbacks. In the first phase, Cagliari achieved their objective: Rrahmani booted a long ball up to Lukaku, who did not win the duel, and Mina picked up the ball for Cagliari to circulate.
Cagliari’s buildup struggled to pierce through. Both Makoumbou and Adopo situationally dropped into the defensive line as Zappa appeared more on the touchline, but any receiver ahead of the ball would be taking it in a very isolated position. Out of possession, their man-marking roles switched as Adopo could not leave McTominay isolated behind him, so Makoumbou pushed up to jump onto Anguissa/Gilmour depending on either pivot’s position. The problem for Cagliari was not only could Napoli move the ball around them, but their defensive line took huge risks with Augello following Politano in the defensive third and Sebastiano Luperto following Di Lorenzo as he dropped towards the ball.
Four minutes into the second period and this had a huge effect. Rrahmani was able to hit another ball high but directly into a one-versus-one between Lukaku and Mina. Lukaku broke away and fended off Adopo’s attempts to recover, before he skipped past an overly aggressive Mina. A low side-footed shot beat the goalkeeper and Napoli moved into a much more comfortable position.
49th minute: Buildup to Lukaku’s goal. Cagliari switched to a much more aggressive man-to-man approach, but with dire consequences due to the risky commitments made from their defensive line. The long ball from Rrahmani not only put Lukaku in a one-versus-one, but with the ball travelling away from Mina, Lukaku had a much higher chance of controlling it.
The pre-drinks before the party
The narrative of the season has been how Napoli managed to drop off in the second half of games. However, the second goal squashed the chances of this coming to the forefront as Cagliari still struggled to maintain a threat. Nicola made a triple substitution before the hour mark, sticking Zappa at wing-back and putting José Luis Palomino at center-back was the height of his adaptations.
Politano would be forced off just after the hour mark, so David Neres came to replace him. The chemistry between the Brazilian and Lukaku created two great chances that could have added a third to Napoli’s tally. The first came from a long up-back-and-through after Di Lorenzo passed back to Anguissa and the low long pass trickled past Mina, through to Lukaku, and with Luperto committed high up the field due to their man-marking approach. As Lukaku took the ball further down the left, Neres curved a run from the touchline to center and was played through by the striker, but his too central to the goalkeeper.
The next chance came from an indirect set-piece in its second phase, after the goalkeeper parried the ball into Neres’ direction. His dinked cross found Lukaku free at the back post, only for his header to go wide of the mark from close range.
Nevertheless, this was a game that fizzled out on the pitch as the rest of the ground waited in anticipation. Conte did not need to risk the likes of Buongiorno or Lobotka, Philip Billing and Pasquale Mazzocchi the only defensive reinforcements, whilst Nicola’s last substitution would be an unprovoked change between his goalkeepers.
Takeaways
Conte has etched his name into even greater territory: the first coach to win the Scudetto with three different clubs, and his fifth title victory in just six full seasons, managed in Serie A. With that being said, out of those five, this Napoli team has the least capabilities of the other projects. Conte abandoned his automatisms and the back three in possession, experimented with other structural arrangements, but could not replicate the attacking heights of the team that won the Scudetto two years ago.
However, he has reinforced this team as a strong defensive unit; his investment in McTominay and Lukaku has seen a good offensive return, and Napoli got rid of some disastrous elements from last season. Conte might not be in the dugout next season, but he has left his mark.
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