Napoli’s Title Defence Already On The Ropes As Pressure Mounts

Is Napoli’s title defence already gone?

The 0-0 draw against Bologna was just the latest disappointing display from the Italian champions, and Napoli now find themselves seven points off the summit they virtually held for themselves for all of last season.

The season is only five games old and already question marks are being asked of coach Rudi Garcia. Headlines where made on Sunday night when Garcia took off star striker Victor Osimhen, with the Nigerian reacting badly to the call. There was likely more to Osimhen’s frustration than the mere substitution, as he missed a penalty late in the contest that would’ve sealed the win for Napoli, but it can’t be denied that the 25-year-old hitman was visibly annoyed at Garcia for the decision.

This is on the back of Garcia facing similar frustration from Napoli’s other star player, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, when the Georgian was taken off against Genoa the week prior. Upsetting key players is hardly going to endear Garcia to his players, with Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport believing that many players have already ‘deserted’ the French manager.

Garcia is no stranger to upsetting star players. Just months ago, he reportedly fell out with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr after taking the Portuguese legend off in a similar scenario to the Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia decisions. Garcia didn’t last long at the Saudi Arabian club, sacked in April only months after Ronaldo’s arrival.

Following Luciano Spalletti at Napoli was always going to be a difficult task, considering how brilliant and cavalier Napoli were throughout most of last season, but the appointment of Garcia scratched heads from the get-go. Replacing Spalletti, and coming into coach a team that won a first Scudetto since the days of Diego Maradona, was always going to prove a mammoth task for any coach. But hiring Garcia was incredibly underwhelming, and this was felt throughout the Napoli fan base. Luis Enrique had been linked with the job for longest time over the summer, but the Spaniard opted to join Paris Saint-Germain. Yet even with Luis Enrique off the table, the feeling was that there were still better options around than Garcia.

Napoli’s play under Garcia, five games in, feels light years away from the swashbuckling brand of football seen in the Spalletti era. The smart play would’ve been to change little in terms of what we saw under Spalletti. After all, this is what made Napoli the best side in Italy last season and the fairy tale story of the European game.

A loss to Lazio at home has been followed up by draws with Genoa and Bologna – teams Napoli had little issue swatting aside last season – and a laboured win against Braga in the Champions League. But what is most disconcerting from a Napoli perspective is the lack of ideas and negative approach from Garcia found in these early stages. One gets the impression that Garcia is purposefully becoming the anti-Spalletti in order to stamp his own authority on the team. This isn’t the kind of football fans now come to expect from Napoli, and many have become disgruntled already.

More and more, the choice of hiring Garcia by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis feels like a rare miss from the media mogul. Since buying the club, De Laurentiis has generally got his coaches more right than wrong; this time, it feels like De Laurentiis went for the cheap option in Garcia, rather than paying a club money to release a coach who warrants Napoli’s current squad and potential.

It remains to be seen how long Garcia will last on the Napoli bench; the pressure is already mounting. La Gazzetta believes he only has a month to save his job, with De Laurentiis’ tweet following the Bologna game echoing a similar tweet he made mere weeks before sacking Carlo Ancelotti in 2019.