Saturday’s Napoli vs. Bologna was a match telling two tales. The first is that Mihajlovic seems to like 1-1 draws an awful lot: since he took over the team, Bologna has finished six matches out of twelve with that scoreline. That’s six valuable points in the fight against relegation which may prove decisive later on (you know what they say about pennies…).

The second thing is that Napoli aren’t in a slump anymore, they’ve turned just plain mediocre. I don’t know what it is, but this is a team who is now incapable of winning: they’ve raked 4 losses and 2 draws in their last 6 matches, something which sounds almost unreal compared to the 8 wins & 1 draw in their first 9 of the season. That was back in September/October. So who’s to blame? The manager? The players? Hard to say, but one thing’s for sure: presidents don’t generally fire their players…

With the tactical experiment vs. Palermo not going so well, Reja reverted to the tested 3-5-2 formation for this one. Argentine midfielder Jesús Dátolo made his first appearance for the Neapolitan club, a performance highlighting some interesting abilities in the first half but which ended up disappearing into anonymity in the second. More surprising were the choices of Pazienza (instead of Blasi) on the field and Pià (instead of Zalayeta) on the bench. On the other end, Mihajlovic’s 4-5-1 spoke very clearly to the Azzurri and neutral spectators alike: play it safe, go for the draw, and hope for some Marco Di Vaio magic.

The first few minutes immediately highlighted the technique & pace of Ezequiel Lavezzi, who gave the Rossoblu defense its first scare following a great Datolo-Maggio combination. The Argentine player’s rotating effort was however brilliantly saved by Antonioli, as the Bologna keeper combined skill, reflexes and a huge deal of good fortune to keep the ball out of the net. Little could he do in minute 20 however, when a cross by Denis found Christian Maggio completely unmarked on the right for the easy tap-in. 1-0 Napoli, and a shaky Bologna defense on the occasion.

If you thought Bologna’s backline could have done better however, it just pales in comparison to the calamity work we would see just 4 minutes later, this time on the other end. Close to the Napoli box a messy backpass by Contini to Rinaudo was messed up even further by the latter, whose header found the deflection of an onrushing Sergio Volpi (with a big help from his arm). The Bologna midfielder immediately let a moderately-powered shot loose, and would you believe it Nicolás Navarro did even worse than his two defenders: spilling the ball and giving an open invitation to Marco Di Vaio. 1-1 in very comical fashion.

The second half started with Napoli actively looking to get back their lead, at least motivation-wise. Results-wise however, very few shots were registered on Antonioli’s end, save (no pun intended) for a German Denis header well neutralized by the Bologna keeper. Down Napoli’s box Navarro had to keep an eye on Di Vaio for the very same reasons (header danger), and then later on Bombardini (close-range effort straight onto the crossbar after a good dribble on Cannavaro). These were however isolated peaks in an otherwise bland 45 minutes and the score didn’t change further, leaving Napoli to contemplate their sixth unproductive result. After their dreams illusions of UEFA Champions League early in the season, the team rapidly needs to find a solution to their winless streak problem.

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	NAPOLI-BOLOGNA 1-1 [Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 20′ Maggio (N), 23′ Di Vaio (B).
NAPOLI (3-5-2): Navarro – Cannavaro (72’ Russotto), Rinaudo Contini – Maggio, Pazienza, Gargano, Datolo, Vitale – Denis, Lavezzi. (bench: Bucci, Santacroce, Montervino, Blasi, Bogliacino, Pià). Coach: Reja.
BOLOGNA (4-5-1): Antonioli – C.Zenoni, Britos (89’ Terzi), Moras, Lanna – Valiani, Mingazzini, Volpi, Mudingayi, Bombardini – Di Vaio (91’ Marazzina). (bench: Colombo, Belleri, Amoroso, Mutarelli, Coelho). Coach: Mihajlovic

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Tags: Bologna, Christian Maggio, Edy Reja, Marco Di Vaio, Napoli, Serie A, Sinisa Mihaijlovic

Posted in Bologna, Napoli, Serie A |

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