Warning! The Bar Sport is not a place for sportsmanship. If you are looking for a well-balanced, objective analysis of the latest Serie A matches, then skip to the next posts: This is a place where supporters can vent freely, and unleash their most visceral passion for football. Any views or opinions represented here are personal and belong solely to the post author.
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Nine games in, and Napoli is still unbeaten.
We are still there. We own the first position. We play football, one of the best in Europe. Last night we showed Lucky Luciano Spalletti how you are supposed to play calcio and, well…He reminded us that Italian football is based on defense, so boring, so catenaccio. People, the beautiful game has evolved!
Against Inter, we did what we were supposed to do. Napoli made the ball circulate as usual, but a 0–0 is a score is what you get when you play against a team trained by Spalletti. Oh well, let me add that a nil-nil score was exactly the same outcome of Napoli-Inter in the 1986-87 Season, when we won our first Scudetto. Nostalgia, you are so funny!
Napoli had five clear chances: In a couple of them, “Ciro” Mertens and “Lorenzo il Magnifico” Insigne shot when the best option would have been to pass the ball. Unfortunate choices from them made Handanovic earn the match of the match token. Seriously, Handanovic, what the…
On the other hand, we only risked once, maybe twice. Yes, we are thankful to Albiol who saved a clear goal on the line by clearing Vecino’s shot, reminding us that he used to play for Real Madrid. Of course, we are also extremely thankful to Icardi: Did he actually play last night or was he kidnapped by the Koulibaly-Albiol duo?
Napoli, we are a great team. Even though we lost two points, and for the first time after more than a year we finished a game without scoring, we are there ready to teach football to teams like Roma, Manchester City and Inter – which we all faced in the last seven days.
Spalletti, you are freaking lucky, you know that? You were saved by the goal posts nine times out of nine games, is that some sort of a record in Europe?
Overall, we finished strong, even if there’s still room for improvement. Some journalists from a certain pink newspaper (Gazzetta dello Sport) already started to mention a “crisis,” and the need for stronger players in the squad. Following their line of thinking, should we maybe get a better change for Dries Mertens?
Messi, didn’t you say you wanted to switch team?
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Note: The supporters banner shown in the feature photo is a beautiful example of Neapolitan popular humor. It reads: “I have three dreams: a ‘terno al lotto,’ (‘terno’ being a much-yearned prize at the local six-number lottery game, a sort of religion in Napoli) , Manuela Arcuri (a famous Italian showgirl…), and the Scudetto.” Indeed, what else could you ask for?