SSC Napoli – Lazio Roma: The Title Procession Is Made To Pause (0-1)
With a whopping eighteen-point lead at the top of Serie A heading into the weekend, it seems no one but themselves can prevent them from lifting the Scudetto. They suffered a bit of a blip against a very well set up Lazio side, but there should not be any real cause for concern.
Tactical analysis and match report by Neel Shelat.
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For a side chasing their first title in the days of the internet, Napoli have been simply out of this world this season. With fourteen matches left, they had built up an eighteen-point lead at the top of Serie A, so there was talk of the title procession beginning already. An eight-match winning run in the league heading into this fixture could only add fuel to that fire, but Lazio were keen to throw in a bit of water.
They started this match in fourth spot but just a couple of points off both Milan clubs, so they were not just looking to qualify for the Champions League but also in with a real chance of finishing in the runners-up spot. They had a bit of a blip around this time last month when they went four matches without a win, but came into this one with three wins from four where the only outlier was the second leg of a Europa Conference League tie which they won.
Napoli named a very predictable lineup as they always tend to do, so Alex Meret was in goal behind Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Min-Jae Kim and Mathías Olivera. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka and Piotr Zieliński made up the midfield, whilst Hirving Lozano and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were on either side of Victor Osimhen up front.
Lazio also started in a 4-3-3 formation ahead of Ivan Provedel in goal. Adam Marušić, Patric, Alessio Romagnoli and Elseid Hysaj made up the defense, whilst Sergej Milinković-Savić and Luis Alberto operated ahead of Matías Vecino in midfield. Felipe Anderson and Mattia Zaccagni flanked Ciro Immobile in the front line.
Lazio’s compact block forces Napoli wide
As ever, Lazio defended in a compact medium block. To start with, their shape may be described as a 4-5-1, but it rarely looked like that on the pitch. As usual, the ball-side midfielder would step up to the carrier and almost come alongside the striker, but a slight adjustment they had made for this match was that their wingers always stayed deep – even behind the number eights.
9th minute: Lazio centrally compact medium block forces Napoli’s center-back to look for a fullback.
Evidently, Lazio’s block was designed to restrict Napoli from progressing down the middle and force them wide instead. The deeper positioning of the wingers meant that the opposition fullbacks could not look for passes to the center either, so Napoli’s possession sequences really seemed to stagnate. A look at their passmap would sum this up quite well.
Although the hosts had over 60% of the ball in the first half, they could make very little of it. There were just seven attempts on goal altogether in the period, the best of which was a flicked header from a set-piece that Di Lorenzo had to clear off the line.
Napoli’s tweak fails to give them the edge
In the first half, Napoli very much operated with a back two in possession made up of the center-backs. The fullbacks remained relatively quite deep, but they stayed wide and were mostly alongside Lobotka horizontally. Zambo Anguissa tried to drop back and create a back three at times, but he would be followed by Alberto and rendered ineffective.
From the get-go in the second half, the league leaders tried something a little different as Di Lorenzo stayed very deep and even tucked inside a little to form a back three, hoping to imbalance the Lazio block.
54th minute: Napoli create a back three in possession with Di Lorenzo alongside the center-backs, however Lazio’s compact block remains unfazed.
There are a couple of reasons why this did not work. The first of those is the fact that Lazio made no changes to their defensive approach, so what ended up happening is their whole block seemed to shift slightly to their right whilst Zaccagni remained poised to close down Di Lorenzo if he received the ball.
Secondly, and more puzzlingly, Napoli simply did not seem to look for Di Lorenzo when he took up such a deep position. The stats paint the picture quite well – in the first twenty minutes of the second period, the Napoli right back only took 19 touches, whilst the rest of the back four took 40, 32 and 33 respectively.
That poses questions of how well planned out this adjustment was, but either way, it clearly failed to have the desired impact.
Vecino wins it for Lazio
As we have seen, Lazio were absolutely spotless out of possession, and it was quite clear that their gameplan relied heavily on that. They only saw about 35% of the ball and could not make much of it at all (fashioning just three chances in open play), but all it took was one moment of magic for them to come away with all three points.
Kvaratskhelia attempted to deal with a cross by heading it away from his own box, but his attempted clearance dropped into an empty patch of grass where Vecino was arriving. The Uruguayan midfielder showed no hesitation in hitting it first-time on the half-volley, doing a superb job of keeping it low – so much so that it grazed the grass – and hitting the target with great power.
Goodness me vecino 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/l1l4NAppXf
— Juego de Posición🍥 (@Berto_el_ndouzi) March 3, 2023
On the balance of play, it would be a stretch to call Lazio’s win entirely deserved as they looked about as blunt going forward as Napoli, but they certainly deserve loads of plaudits for how well they were able to contain the hosts. They were reduced to shooting on sight as they chased a deficit, ending the match with 11 of their 14 shots being hit from outside the box.
Takeaways
Napoli will be disappointed to see their winning run end, but they cannot have any complaints given how the match went. They were utterly neutralised in a manner that they have not experienced this season, as even their in-game tweaks failed to work.Luciano Spalletti admitted that his side’s execution was poor after the match, but he was appreciative of their attitude nonetheless, so there is no reason to worry about their big lead in the table.
For Lazio, this was a decent summation of their work in 2023. Defensively, they have arguably been the most well-drilled side in Italy with eight clean sheets since the turn of the year already (including five on the bounce now), but they can seem to lack an attacking spark on occasion. They got the job done on the night, though, and have cemented themselves as serious contenders for second place in Serie A.
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