Sarri fills gaps left by Benitez
The 56 year old, by the way, has always showed a very relaxed attitude, looking not too worried by the sacking rumors.
Eventually, he was right.
Following the victories over Milan and Fiorentina, the Partenopei are arguably the best Italian team in this moment and most of the credit has to be given to the manager. Sarri has fixed some structural problems that affected the Rafa Benitez’s side last season.
Benitez was blamed because his defense was just too bad for a Serie A pretender. The team had an average of two goals conceded per match and this was mainly due to a midfield that was not filtering properly. Sarri fixed the problem swapping from Benitez’s 4-2-3-1 to his favorite 4-3-1-2, before adopting a more stable 4-3-3 on a permanent basis.
The players’ management represent another huge skill from Napoli’s new manager. Kalidou Koulibaly, Jorginho and Lorenzo Insigne were struggling to adapt to life under Rafa Benitez, while now they are featuring as three key players in Sarri’s Napoli.
Koulibaly seems to have found a perfect harmony with his defensive partner Raul Albiol. Last year they allowed 54 goals, while in this season they kept five clean sheets already. By the way, it is fair to say that Reina’s comeback at the Stadio San Paolo was a huge step forward for the Partenopei’s defense.
During the Spaniard’s reign, Jorginho used to play both as holding and attacking midfielder, while now he is the undisputed Azzurri’s regista following Mirko Valdifiori’s struggles.
As it stands above, Napoli are probably the best Serie A team right now. At the same time, there is little doubt that Lorenzo Insigne is the best Italian player out there. He is the Serie A top scorer, along with his team-mate Gonzalo Higuain and his compatriot Eder. The 24 year old struggled under Benitez as he was forced to have more defensive duties, while now he is allowed more freedom up in front.
Despite Maurizio Sarri still doesn’t want to consider Napoli as a Serie A title contender, at least he’ll have to admit that he managed to fill the gaps left by Benitez at the Stadio San Paolo.
