Serie A 2019/20: Cagliari vs Napoli – tactical analysis

In the 24^th round of the league, Gennaro Gattuso’s team travelled to Sardegna Arena and looked to continue to produce some positive results after they beat Inter in the Coppa Italia. Finally, Napoli earned a clean sheet in Serie A as they beat Cagliari with Dries Mertens goal.

Rolando Maran’s team were declining in terms of results after a strong start at the beginning of the season. They already failed to win in their last eight games, including the loss against Genoa last week. Their road to continental competition was fading.

In this tactical analysis, we will show you how Napoli beat Cagliari. It is an analysis that focuses on tactics.

Lineups

The home team had their key player, Radja Nainggolan missed the game due to suspension. Their midfielders were Luca Cigarini, Nahitan Nández and Artur Ioniţă. Gastón Pereiro returned to the team and supporting Giovanni Simeone with João Pedro. They switched to a back four in this game, played in a 4-3-2-1 formation.

Gattuso rotated his team after the midweek fixture, though they were still playing in a 4-3-3 formation. Kalidou Koulibaly was not 100% fit, hence, Konstantinos Manolas partnered with Nikola Maksimović at the centre of the defence. Elseid Hysaj was moved to the left-back as Mário Rui was given a chance to rest. Fabián Ruiz returned to the right advanced midfielder position; Eljif Elmas was pushed to the left-winger position; Arkadiusz Milik was not in because of knee inflammation.

Cagliari’s press

To begin with, we explain the press of Cagliari. Maran’s team tried to defend high, but they failed to disrupt the build-up of Napoli as there were structural issues.

For their defensive shape, they stayed in a 4-3-1-2 to defend. Both forward players approached the central defenders, as, in the below image, Simeone and Pedro kept their eyes on Manolas and Maksimović. The attacking midfielder tried to mark the sole pivot, which were Pereiro and Demme in this case. The intention was clear, they tried to prevent the central penetrations of Napoli through the pivot.