Winners and Losers from Napoil vs. Inter
Napoli dropped two valuable points in the race for third-place in Italy as they threw away a two-goal lead at the Stadio San Paolo Sunday evening.
Marek Hamsik put on a great showing, adding a goal and an assist, but it was not enough to hold off Inter. The Nerazzurri were allowed back into the match after the home side dropped off their intensity and failed to adequately provide coverage in defence.
Napoli crucially missed out on catching Roma in second; the Giallorossi drew for the eighth time in their last nine Serie A matches. The Partenopei are now just three points behind Lazio, and a win for the latter over Fiorentina on Monday would see them move up to third.
The following pages look at the winners and losers from Napoli's 2-2 draw with Inter.
Winner: Marek Hamsik
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Hamsik has received some criticism for most of the season—some justified and some unjustified—but his display against Inter was one of the best of the term.
The 27-year-old's role in Rafael Benitez's 4-2-3-1 has been in question since the start of the season. In the central attacking midfield position, he seemed invisible at times and limited in his offensive capabilities.
But it has become apparent that Napoli's poor double-pivot has proven to be very average this season, unable to build up play and string passes with Hamsik. A much more fluid midfield would benefit the 27-year-old, allowing for quick one-two passing to surge a quicker attack forward.
Nonetheless, the Slovakian international's glancing header in the 51st minute brought his tally to four Serie A goals this campaign. His assist later to Higuain seemingly sealed the deal for Napoli, but Inter later bounced back.
Loser: Rafael Benitez
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At this point, Benitez's second season with the club is worse than his first. Napoli appear shaky and not confident when commanding a lead.
Up 2-0 against Inter, the game was seemingly over. However, Napoli turned their switch off and became lackadaisical in defence. Rafa has to be criticised for making another round of late substitutions. The Spaniard chose to make his first change in the 73rd minute, right after Rodrigo Palacio had pulled one back.
In the 80th minute, he took off Hamsik for Manolo Gabbiadini, a change that should have happened much sooner seeing as the former's defensive contributions were lacking due to tired legs.
The fact that he chose to bring on a defender only when Henrique was shown a red card chronicles the tactical mistakes Rafa has made recently.
Benitez also chose to give credit to Inter instead of admitting his own faults. Speaking to Mediaset Premium [h/t Football Italia], he stated, "Inter got back into it and then made the most of that penalty, an incident where we were unlucky.
"We have to give credit to Inter, as at that stage they had nothing to lose and really went for it."
It's unlikely Rafa will stay past this season, but his time in charge of Napoli this campaign would not be enough for most fans to encourage him to stay.
Winner: Mauro Icardi
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Although Mauro Icardi was invisible for large parts of the match due to Napoli's stingy defence, the Argentinian finished when it mattered most.
His compatriot in Palacio was brought down in the box in the last five minutes of the clash and a penalty was awarded. Icardi stepped up and slotted home a cheeky chip from the spot, thus drawing the score level at 2-2. Not even a green laser being flashed in his eyes stopped the 22-year-old from his cool finish.
Speaking on his penalty placement after the match to Sky Sport Italia [h/t Football Italia], Icardi stated, "I had already thought about this, because I know [Mariano] Andujar studies the opposition strikers and their penalty techniques, so I didn’t want him to predict and save."
The goal brings his tally to 15 in Serie A, level with Carlos Tevez. If he were to choose to extend his contract with Inter, finishing as top scorer would grant him a bonus; that's something to look out for in the remainder of the season.
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