Napoli – Juventus: Højlund’s Ex-Red Redemption Punishes Spalletti (2-1)
Upon his return to the Maradona, Luciano Spalletti entered with a Napoli tattoo on his forearm whilst sitting in the Juventus dugout. Though returning to the place where he produced his best work, Juve drew no offensive inspiration as Napoli appeared to have moved on.
Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.
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Not only is it absurd that Antonio Conte and Luciano Spalletti have not faced each other in the dugout, but it feels like a necessity.
When Conte made waves at Juventus in the early 2010s, Spalletti was already in Russia, and when he returned to Roma, Conte was at Chelsea by that point. Conte has replaced Spalletti, and both have managed the national team, Internazionale, Juve and Napoli. Both walking similar paths makes it more alarming that they have not crossed, especially with the fact that their tactical blueprints don’t match up despite the list of clubs involved.
Spalletti’s work in 2022/23 is his magnum opus, a creative team in a fluid game plan, whilst also obtaining strong counterpressing principles. The Napoli team under Conte works in a different way, despite Conte having tried to coach a more flexible in-possession stance. The champions are gritty, where the defence comes first. After patchy form, this grittiness has reinforced their position towards the summit. Juve wants to be in that conversation, though Spalletti is not rich in depth for the style he coaches. His return to Campania under black-and-white stripes is not without its hostilities, but if Juve were to pick up a first win in Naples since 2019, it would be a huge statement.
With injuries galore, Conte’s woes were added when Stanislav Lobotka picked up an injury in midweek. With most of his midfield out, Scott McTominay and Eljif Elmas were the chosen double pivot: the addition of Elmas was the only change from the 1-0 win away to AS Roma last weekend.
Spalletti was also dealing with a fresh injury as Dušan Vlahović was out injured. Juve started without a striker, as Kenan Yıldız and Francisco Conceição were the only attackers in a 3-5-2 formation. Filip Kostić was also replaced by Juan Cabal, and Andrea Cambiaso returned as one of the wing-backs, marking two changes from the team that beat Cagliari.
Spalletti’s strange preparation
The return to Naples was not without some unusual arrangements made by Spalletti. The choice to fly on that morning from Turin, instead of staying in Naples overnight, was one. The other was to switch the pressing from man-to-man to a more zonal 5-3-2 medium block. Juve may have had some of the possession against Napoli’s own man-marking scheme, but the early momentum was in the hands of Conte’s team.
This was set by Napoli tilting Sam Beukema into a right fullback position, which has been established since Conte switched to the back three. This was set when Vanja Milinković-Savić was on the ball, and Amir Rrahmani pushed into the pivot position or Elmas dropped between the center-backs. The North Macedonian is more accomplished in higher zones, but the midfielder’s technical ability and disciplined out-of-possession work have gained Conte’s trust in placing him in the pivot spot. Juve enabled Beukema to receive the ball unopposed; Khéphren Thuram had too far to cover from the central spot and Napoli had their established outball through David Neres on the right or Rasmus Højlund knocking the ball out to the Brazilian.
1st minute: Napoli’s buildup versus Juve’s zonal 5-3-2 defensive block. Neither Yıldız nor Conceição effectively shielded against the pivot, or jumped up high onto the center-back, so Napoli could adjust their first line of buildup easily through Beukema pushing up into the right fullback spot. Juve may have a three-versus-two on Noa Lang/Neres, but the ball out to the wide center-back opened up this access anyway. In this phase, Beukema’s long pass would not connect, but the pattern of play was there.
Despite Weston McKennie, Manuel Locatelli and Thuram covering the space against Lang and Neres, access could be made when one of the Napoli forwards dropped into a central spot, and a countermovement was made to open the passing lane. Against Juan Cabal and Teun Koopmeiners, Neres constantly shifted the ball onto his right foot behind the defenders and to devastating effect. His delivery nearly opened the scoring from a short corner, as Scott McTominay was found at the back post but narrowly went the wrong side of it.
Nevertheless, Napoli did not have to wait long. A minute later, Napoli comfortably moved the ball around Juve’s attempts to counterpress and reset. This time, Giovanni Di Lorenzo was the player in a similar spot that Beukema had been taking up. He had the space to set the move, as Neres burst into the space between Cabal and Koopmeiners, and the Brazilian took the ball into the halfspace. In the center, Højlund made a double-movement against Lloyd Kelly, which almost looked pre-rehearsed. The striker got ahead and finished from close range to give Napoli an early lead.
6th minute: Buildup to Napoli’s goal. Di Lorenzo was positioned in a similar position that had hurt the Juve defensive block in previous phases. Neres targeted his run between the wing-back and wide center-back, before he took the ball around Koopmeiners to make the ball across the goal.
Napoli was not producing a crazy amount of chances or pinning Juve back with aggressive high pressing, but this was a team that definitely had established an early threat. In the fourteenth minute, Juve’s center was breached as Locatelli was positioned on Elmas, so Thuram was ready to jump on Beukema, only for McTominay to open his body and Neres flicked to Højlund. Neres moved onto the opposite flank, and Lang connected for the Brazilian to stick another cross in the box. Højlund hit Koopmeiners with a similar movement but just missed the delivery. Later in the half, a short corner found Di Lorenzo at the front post, which required Michele Di Gregorio to tip a looping header over the crossbar.
No progression from Juve
The start of the game saw Juve keep some of the possession, but they constantly lost duels around the middle third/halfway line, which saw Napoli maintain their pressure. As Napoli started to transition into its deeper 5-4-1 block, man-to-man when pressing, Juve tried to progress through a variety of positional changes, but to no avail.
Juve also tilted their defensive line between situations, Pierre Kalulu and Juan Cabal holding width in this situation. The problem this caused was that Kelly and Koopmeiners were the two positioned at the base of the buildup, two left footers whose long distribution was not sufficient. As many Juve games have gone in recent times, the team must look towards Locatelli to progress the ball. Højlund stepped up onto the center-backs, but Elmas and McTominay were reliable in pushing up onto the captain when the ball was positioned in the Juve half. On the channels, Koopmeiners and Kalulu tried to underlap with very little effect.
Ahead of the base, Juve were even more unclear about what the structure was trying to achieve. The positions that Yıldız and Conceição took up were quite flexible. Yıldız dropped towards the first line in some situations, but maneuvered between the halfspaces if there was no position to drop in. Conceição was more fixated on the right but entered the wider channel with a lot more frequency when Andrea Cambiaso dropped into the right fullback spot or moved into an inverted position. As the front two shifted, McKennie and Thuram, two box crashers by nature, tried to sprint into vacant spaces to fill in the gaps.
37th minute: Juve problems in possession. Koopmeiners was easily forced backwards as Napoli had all close targets occupied and could comfortably transition into their man-to-man scheme. As Yıldız dropped, McKennie and Thuram moved into the vacant spaces in the first line, but this saw Juve end up with their forwards isolated, their midfielders ineffective, and their most dangerous players in positions not close to the goal.
In theory, with Rrahmani following Yıldız, McKennie would have space to sprint into, but McTominay was disciplined in following his man. This was shown in one of the few good connections that the team made, as Thuram’s dribble towards the touchline encouraged Beukema and Elmas towards him; Cabal found Locatelli, who was able to turn. McKennie played the ball wide to Yıldız, isolated with Rrahmani on the touchline. The American charged into the box, McTominay followed to make sure that Juve would not capitalize.
Juve may have ridden the early waves but had no way of manufacturing a response in the current arrangement. Both the wing-backs and wide center-backs were ineffective in opening the Napoli block, and the only two first-half shots, which landed miles wide from outside of the box, were quite fitting for their state of affairs.
Man-to-man operation returns
Spalletti needed to change the format and he would do so at half-time. Cabal was replaced by Jonathan David, so Juve returned to a 3-4-2-1 formation with Cambiaso at left wing-back and McKennie at right wing-back. This also saw the return of the man-to-man scheme, and Juve were instantly more capable of putting more intensity against Napoli’s defensive line. In the center of the buildup, neither Elmas nor McTominay where dropping as Alessandro Buongiorno was more central to Rrahmani on the goalkeeper. As Mathías Olivera and Di Lorenzo went to collect, Cambiaso and McKennie with some aggressive jumps.
Napoli did have some routes to alleviate such pressures. On the left, Elmas could peel onto the channel if Olivera stayed high and Buongiorno central, as McKennie and Conceição were occupied. Elmas could also drift onto the other side, and with McTominay positioned on different lines, a huge space could open if Thuram was encouraged onto Elmas and Neres played the pass back to McTominay. A chance at the start of the half highlighted this dynamic as Koopmeiners followed Neres, McTominay played the pass to Højlund, who had taken up the position on the right, and the Danish striker charged towards the goal, his shot going over the crossbar.
In possession, Juve were keener to get Di Gregorio on the ball, which may not lead to much progression, but certainly encouraged Spalletti’s team to have a little more control when circulating the ball out of the back. After a Napoli attack broke down, a one-two between Cambiaso and Yıldız sparked the transition forward for Juve. The ball spilling into the center highlighted a large amount of space as Napoli dropped back into their own box, in their trademark fashion under Conte. Conceição played inside to Yıldız and McKennie sprinted around Olivera, before the Turkish attacker moved goal side and squeezed the ball into the bottom far corner for an unlikely equalizer.
57th minute: Buildup to Juve’s equalizer. As Napoli dropped back into their own penalty area, a huge space opened centrally as Cambiaso’s pass was too heavy for Yıldız, but Conceição teed up the attacker to find McKennie on the overlap.
Fall under Højlund’s hammer
After the goal, Juve maintained some momentum as the ball retention in Napoli’s front three remained inconsistent. As expected, Højlund continued to move into channels with Lang/Neres making runs ahead or dropping. The passing angles out of the buildup to Højlund were still available, but the forwards are still not playing to the right frequency despite the upturn in Napoli’s form as of late.
Napoli could still get the ball into high zones, but Juve were more reliable in circulating with an increased tempo and positional rotations from Cambiaso inverting. Substitutions would prove crucial at an even game state, and the coaches changed their left wing-backs at the same time. Cambiaso was replaced by Filip Kostić, who is more glued to the touchline, and Juve lost some of its flexibility in the second line without the Italian inverting. Olivera was replaced by Leonardo Spinazzola, who is not as reliable on the defensive transition, but is not only a lot more comfortable in position, he leads Napoli to making more territorial gains through his carrying.
As a result, Napoli started to hold the ball more around the middle third, and Juve were more inclined to sit deeper. Spalletti made another change, which caused surprise as both Yıldız and Conceição came off for Fabio Miretti and Loïs Openda. With these substitutions, the little attack Juve had produced left with them as Napoli started to put more pressure against the deeper block. As the ball circulated from left to right, Neres moved into a position to make another troubling cross. McKennie headed the ball straight back into the danger zone, where Højlund made no mistake. Spalletti threw on Edon Zhegrova for the final ten minutes; however, the damage had already been done.
Takeaways
A month prior, the mood around Naples was certainly causing alarm bells. Conte said he did not want to coach “a dead team”, but even when more injuries came, Napoli bagged three very important wins in a row. More game time for Neres and Lang has worked in Conte’s favor, whilst Spalletti’s first defeat as Juve boss could not come in a more painful fashion: a game plan gone wrong.
This is one of those matches where the match plots really tell the narrative of the game. Napoli’s 3-4-3 formation leaves no territorial dominance, other than the major connections being made on the right side of the structure. Juve are clustered, where everything runs through Locatelli and with zero threat being produced from a team deep within itself.
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