Scout Report – Napoli vs AC Milan

With this midweek devoid of the chance to catch-up on Champions League action, we’re taking the opportunity to roll out a new feature and shine some extra light in the direction of a side our European Fantasy Managers will be keeping a close eye on.

As mentioned earlier, conveniently facing each other on Sunday night, AC Milan and Napoli are two sides that people may want to invest in, so we get the microscope out for the very first time with a bumper edition as we take a look at both sides from this fixture….

The Tactics

Each side here play formations which we’ve already seen Gian Pieri Gasperini try, and not particularly succeed with, so far in his time as manager of Inter Milan. This is as much down to the fact that, at Inter, there seems to a manager trying to squeeze his square-shaped players into round holes, while at Milan and Napoli these are formations borne out of the talents available.

As demonstrated above with the average position map from Sunday evening, and in this even better representation from their Champions League game at Barcelona, Massimo Allegri favours lining up his Milan side in a 4-3-1-2 formation.

The Rossoneri are very much formed on solid foundations with a back four -currently Ignazio Abate (20), Thiago Silva (33), Alessandro Nesta (13) and one of a host of left-backs- that is then screened by three midfielders who know how to get stuck in. Mark Van Bommel (4) is perhaps the antithesis of this. Even the “Trequartista” role is often filled by known grafters such as Kevin-Prince Boateng (27) and Clarence (10) Seedorf rather than perhaps more luxury playmakers in the same vein as, say, Wesley Sneijder or Mesut Özil

Zlatan Ibrahimovic would normally be at the apex of this formation with all roads inevitably leading to supply the big Swede with as much end product as they can. Whether it be the full backs using the space in front of them to get forward or the more creative of the support such as Alberto Aquilani and Antonio Cassano (99) looking to feed balls through. However, with Ibrahimovic currently injured on the sidelines, the central supply will be more important and worked perfectly in Milan’s Champions League tie when Seedorf sent Alexandre Pato (7) though on goal after just 24 seconds.

Napoli, meanwhile, are frequent backers of the 3-4-2-1 formation as, once again, shown in the diagram above and in this representation from their recent 1-1 draw away at Manchester City in the Champions League last week.

The Azzurri are one of few Italian outfits who will offer genuine width with thanks to Christian Maggio (11) and one of ex-Liverpool full-back Andrea Dossena (8) -or Juan Camilo Zúñiga (18)- filling the role admirably. This leaves Gokhan Inler (88) and Walter Gargano (23) to take care of the industrial issues in the middle of the park.

A functioning back three means that, in defensive play, these two nominal wide midfielders will pull back to form a blanket back five and push on when needed, knowing there are plenty of hands left behind to steady the ship.

The front three all have fairly well delineated roles that separate one from another. Marek Hamsik (17) is the most retreated and central of that trio linking the midfield to the attack, Ezequiel Lavezzi (22) has a more “free” role to pressure defences and try and get behind the lines while Edinson Cavani (7) is positioned as a fairly standard- if much more mobile than his size might suggest- leading central forward. His 26 goals last term for Napoli was very reminiscent of Wayne Rooney’s most prolific 2009/10 season.

Key Moments

The game burst into life after ten minutes when Alberto Aquilani (employed behind the strikers as the most attacking midfielder) opened the scoring with a marvelous diving header from a Antonio Cassano cross. A couple of minutes later Napoli levelled- Christan Maggo headed a well-worked free-kick to Edinson Cavani and he thundered a strike through the goalkeeper’s legs.

Twenty minutes later Walter Gargano stole the ball from Pato and, in a blink and you’ll miss it counter attack, ran the full length of the field to tee up Cavani to stroke home from 12 yards out. Five minutes into the second half Cavani completed his hat-trick; Christian Maggio’s cross rebounded off of Alessandro Nesta and Cavani, reacting quickly, thundered home a volley to establish his side’s superiority. For all of Milan’s efforts they never really troubled the Napoli goalkeeper from this point on; Alexandre Pato in particular disappointed.

Both clubs will have two more league games (Milan at home to Udinese and Cesena, Napoli visit Chievo and host Fiorentina) before we get to arranging our Uefa Fantasy Champions League sides again but, right now, one club has easier fixtures coming off an iffy performance while the other side are in stark contrast.

The Ones To Watch

Milan’s next three fixtures see them face off against BATE of Bulgaria at home and away as well as welcoming Viktoria Plzeň to the San Siro next Tuesday. Picking some Milanese options would seem a prudent move, so here’s some who may turn your fancy…

Christian Abbiati: 6.0 for a goalkeeper at one of Italy’s top and leanest sides with a double header at home against favourable opposition upcoming.

Thiago Silva: He’s already scored himself a goal, picked up some recovered ball bonus and has the same advantage as the man above him.

Alberto Aquilani: An old friend. With Andrea Pirlo now departed he’ll be relied upon to provide a creative spark in the heart of the Milan midfield.

Antonio Cassano: A wildcard option, but a low price (7.5) may compensate for this. Until Ibrahimovic and Robinho return from injury he and fellow striker Alexandre Pato should be sure of their place too.

Napoli got a big result in Matchday One when they came back from the Etihad stadium with a point. A good start to their inaugural Champions League campaign – in the “Group of Death” no less.

Clean sheets will be hard to come by with opposition such as Bayern, Man City and Villarreal, but with three home ties in their next four at the Stadio San Paolo, we look to their attackers as a way to gaining the Fantasy points…

Marek Hamsik: The Slovakian midfielder is not someone to hide in the crowd – this may be as much down to his hairstyle as anything else. The more central of Napoli’s two support forwards should provide performances on par with his ceiling scraping haircut.

Edinson Cavani: An imposing brute of a striker the Uruguayan has really begun to make his name on numerous stages (World Cup, Serie A and Copa America) in the last year or so. Earn his 9.5 crust against his upcoming opponents and it’ll be a long while before he is forgotten.

Ezequiel Lavezzi: A cheaper (7.0) option into the strike-force. Less likely to get that gut-busting score but should return dividends comparable to his price, that’s for sure.