Topic: Italian League Prediction Thread (Serie A) - page 1061. (Read 849844 times)

Last season, Napoli had a great season in Serie A and also in the Champions League. They were able to top the Serie A standings last season with a very large points difference. Which allowed Napoli to focus more on the UCL last season. But last season Napoli stopped in the quarter-finals because they lost to Milan. But I'm actually not sure that this season Napoli will qualify for the quarter-finals. Because Barcelona is not an ordinary team that will be easy to beat. In fact, Barcelona's strength can be said to be equivalent to Real Madrid. And we can see that Napoli had difficulties when they faced Real Madrid in the group stage. Even Napoli continued to experience defeats in the match against Real Madrid. So maybe the match against Barcelona will be as difficult as the match against Real Madrid. But because Barcelona has been inconsistent lately, maybe it could be an advantage for Napoli. But Barcelona might also improve again in the next few months. So Napoli must be prepared for that.

They had a past amazing season in Champions League and want to repeat it in this season. The round of 16 draw puts Napoli to meet Barcelona which is a giant in Champions League but in this season, Barcelona has some problems with their squad, injuries and not too good form. It gives Napoli chance and hope to beat Barcelona and go to another stage in Champions League. This competition is more important for Napoli than Coppa Italia and it is their wise decision to give up in Coppa Italia.

Match between AS Roma and Napoli is a derby, it is called as Derby del Sole with 171 matches happened. The statistics is on Roma side with 62 wins, 53 draws and Napoli has 56 wins from those past derby matches.

This match is important for them to continue competing for top four because there are many clubs are racing for this position. AS Roma just lost it to Bologna after a direct defeat to that opponent.

There is a possibility that Napoli will enter the fourth position in the Italy Serie A table if they can get a draw match from Roma because Bologna's match against Atalanta will be a tough one, and it can end in a draw match or Atalanta wins against Bologna. Napoli can challenge for the Serie A title if they are with Osimhen till the end of the season.

I think Napoli's defeat against Frosinone in the last 16 of the Coppa Italia was purely due to a decision error in playing the starting eleven from the start. Mazzarri was too confident by playing more second-string players in the first half. And in the second half Mazzarri was late in playing their mainstay player. So Napoli's defeat in that match was not that surprising. Because looking at the composition of the players playing in this match, it seems like they didn't intend to play optimally from the start. Or maybe because Mazzarri underestimated Frosinone.

Napoli will indeed have a very difficult opponent in the last 16 of the UCL. Because after all Barcelona is a team filled with great players. But fortunately currently Barcelona is also not in good condition. Their consistency has been shaky lately. So Barcelona has pretty much failed to get maximum points recently. So Napoli actually still has a good chance in the UCL later.

In the next match, Napoli in Serie A will face Roma. But I think this match will indeed be a more difficult match for Napoli. Because Roma when they are in good shape can be almost on par with Milan or Inter. But fortunately Roma were also not at their best. They even lost to Bologna. Which indicates that Roma is also inconsistent this season. But I also hope Napoli wins even though Napoli is not the host of the match. But it's time for Napoli to return to their best performance. Because if they can't, Napoli will even have difficulty returning to the top 4 of Serie A, which is now occupied by Bologna.

Inter's defeat in the Coppa Italia always has a cause and there is a reason for everything and let's discuss it.
if you say the difference from h2h is not fair because every season the performance of each club is very different, sometimes Inter last season was not very strong and this season looks very strong and consistent and could have beaten Bologna if it was not a Coppa Italia match.
Furthermore, another reason is to look at the players used in yesterday's match. Did all the mainstay players appear on the field?
This is all because Simone Inzaghi wants to maintain the physical condition of his talented players so they don't get too tired because Inter have to chase trophies in other competitions.
So yesterday's defeat for Simone Inzaghi is not a big problem because Inter must focus on the Champions League competition and the title in Serie A and the Coppa Italia may not be pursued because it will add to the match schedule which will have negative impacts such as injuries, while the Champions League trophy is very important compared to the Coppa Italy.
Maybe you can understand the reasons I said and for me this is fairer and more reasonable.

I doubt that a coach has ever made such a difference when he stepped down and then a team like Napoli would lose games against an inferior team in such a shocking way. Of course coaches have some influences on the game due to their decisions, but not solely due to their presence. I think what's important to note here is that Mazzari decided against letting the best players begin the game. That was the mistake that cost them the next round in Coppa Italia.

With 14 points behind top Inter in Serie A and facing Barca in the 1/8 round of the Champions League, Napoli sees the Italian National Cup as the most feasible arena for winning the title this season. But the hopes of Walter Mazzarri and his team in the domestic cup field were dashed after a shocking loss to Frosinone right at the holy land of Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Thus, Napoli only has to fight in the Champions League and Serie A. In Serie A, Napoli is ranked 5th with 27 points. However, things are not as Napoli expected. Now they have to be a guest against a Roma team that is thirsty for points and extremely strong when playing at the Olimpico. Napoli must win at all costs if they do not want to slip further and further in the race to win Serie A this season.

I think they are all-in for UCL this year and the fact that they qualify further again , makes me thinks that both Serie A and especially the cup can wait a bit longer or not waiting at all ( being already eliminated from cup ). I'm sure they will focus a lot in the second part of Serie A season but personally I don't expect them to produce magic like they did last year but I do see them achieving quarter finals in UCL. 

Shocking to see Napoli losing 4 nil to Frosinone and not been able to maintain consistent performance in the Seria A matches. Could it be that all these unplanned negative results happens because Luciano Spalleti steps down from managing the club? Though he resign and I'm confident Napoli will bounce back to winning matches but it will take lengthy period because we can never be too sure of these matches. Napoli headcoach,Walter Mazzarri have learnt his lesson and he will not give room for any poor performance from his team, he's aiming for the best spot on the table.

Napoli must target to finish in the top 4 only (UCL zone). They must be aware that they have no chance to join the race for the title. The point gap with Inter Milan and Juventus are too large, it is very unlikely to overtake their points. Moreover, Napoli also played inconsistently, no guarantee that they will always win the match this season. So, we all must agree about this, Napoli will never try to compete for the Scudetto. The reasonable target is surely just for the top 4, for the ticket of UCL next season.

Indeed. Only Inter Milan and Juventus are competing for the title now. These teams played more stable than other teams in Serie A. They also have better squad than other teams. So, it will be very difficult for other teams to overtake them in the top of Serie A standings. If there is no change in the second half of the season, I guess Inter Milan will win the Scudetto.

Of course not, but I share the opinion that this game was approached in a very weird way by Walter Mazzari. I don't know if this was incompetence by him or underestimation at its best, but how can a team like Napoli underestimate another team from Serie A. It is not like they played against a team from the Serie B or worse than that when it happens that the far superior favorite underestimates how hard it can be to beat those teams. Take Bayern as an example when they played against a 3. Bundesliga team and lost, but nobody would ever say that was on purpose. If that were true, the coach would get sacked immediately.

There never was an intention to get kicked out of the Coppa Italia competition as some people here argue because this cup can't be compared to the league cup in England, where they actually have like three cups or so? The Coppa Italia is the main Italian cup and no team would ever try to lose on purpose in order to be able to focus more on other competitions, that's bullshit. A team like Napoli, a Champions League contender, plans to get kicked out of the Coppa Italia... No, really never.

Napoli will find it difficult to enter the ranks of teams competing for the Scudetto this season because Napoli are already 14 points behind Inter Milan. We are like we were in last season where last season Napoli led the standing by far ahead of the second ranked team and that is the comparison that has happened to Napoli this season. There is no hope for Napoli to win the Scudetto this season, they are only focused on being in the top 4 because of their decline in performance which means they are not strong enough to compete for the title.

This season the Scudetto will belong to Inter Milan or Juventus because they are more ambitious to get it. Inter Milan performance this season cannot be stopped by any team, they are very strong and this season they have a greater chance of winning the Scudetto. Inter milan has Martinez and Thuram who have performed quite impressively compared to the stickers of other teams in this season.

Simone Inzaghi played an important role in Inter Milan's success, which made them sit at number one at the top of the standings, while in the UEFA Champions League competition, Inter Milan have not lost and have managed to maintain their performance well.There is still a long way to go in these two competitions, so Simone Inzaghi must continue to try to maintain the strategy he uses to always win in the upcoming matches.

I have already said this many other times that Napoli got definitely no chance to win the Serie A title as they won in the last season because compared to the all other teams in this season, Napoli lost much power, and other teams like Juventus and Inter Milan are now even more stable and stronger than last season which means they can have more chance to win the title during this season.
Inter Milan even after losing Lukaku is performing very well and they are definitely in the form in which they can have the same good performance they had in the last season.

Well, Napoli would definitely compete but I doubt they'll be able to win either of the champions league or Serie A. They're just not good enough this season to win either of those trophies.
With the kind of form they ended last season with, it was obvious to me Napoli was going to struggle this season. They really struggled towards the end of last season after they won the league and I knew they'll take that form into the next season and the have.
It happened to Inter Milan, then AC Milan and now Napoli. When these teams when the league the previous season, they mostly flip the next season.
Even if Napoli was in form, I doubt Inter is in the mood to let anyone go above them and win the Seria A this season. 

Friday 22nd December
Empoli 17:30 Lazio
Sassuolo 17:30 Genoa
Monza 19:45 Fiorentina
Salernitana 19:45 AC Milan

Saturday 23rd December
Frosinone 11:30 Juventus
Bologna 14:00 Atalanta
Torino 14:00 Udinese
Inter Milan 17:00 Lecce
Verona 17:00 Cagliari
Roma 19:45 Napoli


Source https://www.skysports.com/serie-a-fixtures

Roma Napoli game of the day between 2 teams in a bad shape

Roma is having a bad run of form and it’ll take serious work both from players and team manager to redeem this team, In recent matches you see that Lukaku isn’t banging in the goals anymore for Roma and that already is causing a decline in their performance and they play as if they play without a creative midfielder like Dybala, all these are signs that they need more men in their squad, therefore they need to make proper use of the transfer window.

 Mourinho needs to step up his game and save this already falling Roma side, Napoli has risen through their down times and star man, Osimhen has done excellently well by partnering with his team mates to save the team’s face, now Roma should take cue from them and do something else it gets late and they don’t get any European spot next season, well I believe Jose Mourinho would figure out something soon.

Yeah, it's a little bit strange. Even though being in the UCL is the dream of all football clubs, of course. So when they were struggling in the UCL, it was a very valuable moment, a moment when they could show off their abilities and prove that they really deserved it. And of course this also spurs their enthusiasm to be even more on fire in every match, whether in the UCL or their own league. So, it doesn't quite make sense if someone says something like that.

Yeah, because this doubt is quite basic. how we see Napoli's condition this season, how they failed with the first coach who replaced Spalletti, and how they also failed several times even when there was a new coach, Mazzarri. This time it will be very difficult for Napoli to win the Schudetto title again. This seems impossible...

We don't know that yet, we just have to keep on accessing the situation and how they go until tue last few games of the season. They could do better and improve their house things can as well go sideways but we'll seen. They'll be against Atalanta who won four goals to one during the last game. I'm suspecting they would share points against Atalanta.

For Frosinone against Juventus, let's see how they try to repeat that same score against Juventus. They got to trash Napoli during the cup games. I want to see if they're strong enough to run down Juventus defense with four goals. Difficult for them ain't it?