In the 22nd match day of Serie A, Napoli travelled to Luigi Ferraris to challenge Sampdoria. For the home team, they struggled in the early stages of the season, but they climbed back from the bottom to the 16th of the table, though they had one victory in the last five only.
Napoli showed better signs after the new signings join the team, they beat Lazio and Juventus in the past two games. Gennaro Gattuso’s men a looking to gain as many points as possible in order to reach a continental competition qualification spot.
In this tactical analysis, we will show you how Napoli secured the win from Claudio Ranieri’s Sampdoria. It is an analysis that focuses on tactics.
Lineups
Sampdoria played in a 4-4-2 formation. There were a few changes compared to the draw against Sassuolo. The right-back, Bartosz Bereszyński was suspended, hence, Morten Thorsby dropped to that position; Karol Linetty moved from the left-wing position to the centre, partnered with Albin Ekdal at the centre of the midfield. Jakub Jankto played as the left-winger.
For Napoli, Gattuso played his usual formation, a 4-3-3. The major part of the starting lineup remained the same, only some forced changes at the midfield. Diego Demme was not fit to start, so the German stayed on the bench and Stanislav Lobotka played as a sole pivot. Fabián Ruiz was also unavailable for the game. However, there were strong boosts for the team as they welcomed Kalidou Koulibaly and Dries Mertens on the bench.
The block and press of Sampdoria
In the first half, Sampdoria set up a midblock to resist Napoli, with a 4-4-2 shape. It was a flexible block which the shape could be adjusted according to the position of the ball. When the ball is positioned centrally, sometimes it looked like a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 as a midfielder stayed slightly close to mark Lobotka.
When the ball moved to the side, Sampdoria tried to contain Napoli midfielders by adjusting the block. They formed a quadrilateral defensive shape with a midfielder and the winger on the ball side stepped forward, joining the strikers, as shown in the below image.
