Osimehen just came up with an agreement and renewed his contract with Napoli, it should give an extra lift to the club. But it is the opposite. A loss to Roma and in the next match, Osimhen and Politano are unavailable. Napoli should be able to win over Monza and get the points they need, but without their strikers, this could be another disaster for the club already in trouble.
Having Lukaku back in the team and in the shape he is currently in is never bad of course, but the really decisive scenes in this game were the red cards. Those cards pulled the rug under Napoli's feet.
Lukaku got his goal, which helps him to quickly get back to normal and nobody cares whether he scored that against 9 Napoli players or 11 Napoli players. But for Napoli the tendency for the moment is bad and stopping it is hard.
Lukaku is always a concern wherever he is. Last season he received a lot of attention when he was able to play well for Inter Milan. And now he is also in the spotlight when he becomes one of the mainstays in Roma. There is no doubt about Lukaku's sharpness. But this player is actually quite rough when playing. And sometimes this also carries over to other players in the squad. So I no longer feel surprised when there will be lots of violations and a rain of yellow and red cards occurring in a match where Lukaku is in it. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or not. But that has happened quite often, even since last season when he was at Inter Milan. But that happens when facing a strong team.
Napoli may have to fight harder without their mainstay striker back. Luckily Monza is not a strong team. So Napoli must be able to win even with a narrow score in this match.