Napoli are stuck in a mid-life crisis currently. Nothing they do is going right. Between all that is happening, it is Carlo Ancelotti who is suffering. His gilded reputation is suffering like never before.
Some roots of the problems lie in their Champions League draw against Red Bull Salzburg. It was their fourth consecutive draw in all competitions, with the club slipping to seventh in the Serie A. The draw against Jesse Marsch’s men piled up the frustration in the partenopei camp.
For a while now, players have been accused of a lack of commitment. They’ve been accused of not trying enough to play in Ancelotti’s 4-4-2 shape and become accustomed to Ancelotti’s tactics.
After the draw against Salzburg, club CEO Aurelio de Laurentiis called for a ‘ritiro’– a tradition in Italy that looks to critically analyse poor performances. The idea is to have players come into the same room and discuss what is going wrong. The aim is to correct the wrongs.
But shocking scenes unfolded, as the players went back home instead of attending the ritiro. This left the club baffled, with De Laurentiis later claiming that the players will be punished for the act. The club also released a statement saying that the players will pay for their act of ignorance.
Ritiro is considered a rather age-old tradition. For many, it isn’t something that highly paid and elite footballers should be asked to do. It is seen as a punishment that children could get during their childhood days.
Ancelotti distanced himself from the fact that he asked for the ritiro. He said that it was De Laurentiis who had felt the urge for arranging one to make sure that the players get to know each other better in times of trouble.
He said: “The rest are small details; you may agree or disagree. If you ask me what I think, I will say that I don’t agree with the decision made by the club. However, the coach must be the coach. These are the decisions that are taken by the club.
“The President called me a few moments ago to wish me good luck. Nothing has changed, the decision has been made by the club, who are rightly worried, just like we are. But regarding the importance of the match tomorrow, it’s really just a detail.”
“The rest are small details; you may agree or disagree. If you ask me what I think, I will say that I don’t agree with the decision made by the club. However, the coach must be the coach. These are the decisions that are taken by the club.
“The President called me a few moments ago to wish me good luck. Nothing has changed, the decision has been made by the club, who are rightly worried, just like we are. But regarding the importance of the match tomorrow, it’s really just a detail.”
A day after the incident, the club had a public training session at the Stadio Olimpico. And told how toxic the atmosphere has become at the club. Skipper Lorenzo Insigne, who had led the revolt, was asked to leave by the fans. De Laurentiis too, was abused by the Ultras for whatever he had done.
While the fans are clearly not against Ancelotti by any means, the Italian has been rendered helpless. He has been backing his players, but it has degraded his relationship with De Laurentiis. But the players have been going against the club instead of fighting for it, also failing to win against Thiago Motta’s Genoa too – maybe too much time being spent playing allvideoslots.com Canada.
Having said that, Ancelotti isn’t blameless. He has been constantly fielding a 4-4-2 shape that is leaving the club light in midfield. The lack of a ball-winning midfielder is making it easy for opposition teams to bypass them in that area. Since Allan’s injury at the end of October, Ancelotti is having to play two advanced midfielders in a 4-4-2 shape- Fabian Ruiz and Piotr Zielinski.
Ancelotti’s system at the partenopei has been flexible. Too flexible, sometimes. The 4-4-2 shape often changes to a 4-3-3 in attack when the left midfielder comes centrally as the third midfielder. On many occasions, summer signing Giovani di Lorenzo has played as the third centre-back to make sure the side plays a 3-5-2 shape.
There is no fixed system, even though 4-4-2 is the one on paper. They keep changing formations in between games and while it was crucial against Liverpool, situations are different in the league.
They spent €128 million in the summer, bringing in Eljif Elmas, Kostas Manolas, di Lorenzo and Hirving Lozano. Ancelotti’s men are seventh in the Serie A, seven points behind fourth-placed Cagliari. A side that was supposed to challenge for the title is laughing in upper midtable.
The short-term game that football has become, Ancelotti could well bear the brunt of that. Even though only 20 or 30 percent of the mess is his fault. He was never given the ball-winner and he is suffering for it. He is backing his players, who have not been allowed to talk to the press. But Elmas ended up doing that on international duty with Macedonia.
The club has already said that action will be taken against Elmas. It is the manager who will be blamed for poor results. He will be held accountable even when others are more at fault than him. It is a sad state of affairs- something Don Carlo hardly deserves.
