Edinson Cavani's Slump in Form Contributed To Napoli's Impotent Unbeaten Run

Edinson Cavani’s poor form has been one of the major factors behind the loss of form SSC Napoli as the club aims to end calcio season on a high. His return to form is bound to bring some good news for Napoli fans.

The end game of the Italian Serie A is fast approaching. In both ends of the table the battle is heating up, as defeats become less and less affordable. The top end of Serie A last Friday saw an epic showdown between Napoli and Juventus at a packed Stadio San Paolo in Naples. After the encounter with reigning champions and title favorites Juventus, Napoli’s Scudetto ambitions were left battered, even if faint hopes of the ultimate triumph still remain.

The streak of draws

The 1-1 result against La Vecchia Signora was not a disaster for the light blue home team, but being six points behind the leaders they had hoped to relaunch their slightly stuttering campaign in front of their home fans. The problem for Napoli is not the draw against the champions but rather the fact that it comes as the fourth draw in a row. After 1-1 against Lazio, two times 0-0 against Sampdoria and Udinese, and two humiliating though less important defeats against Victoria Plzen in the Europa League, Napoli is at a critical phase of the season.

While the draw against Juve did not mark a downward turn it did not herald a second coming either. And a second coming is exactly what Napoli need in order not to become just another in a long line of faltering ai???anti-Juvesai???. Ironically the feeling of a looming crisis emerges at a stage in the season where the team has gone unbeaten in Serie A for more than two months. The shocking home defeat to Bologna in the middle of December last year was the last time the Partenopei left a league game as losers. Sadly though, the glosses of unbeaten streaks are often removed when they contain too many drawn matches, as it is happening with Napoli now.

When anxiety is growing in the minds of the Napoli faithful and probably also in a few of the players, it is because their impressive unbeaten run consists of two distinct halves. After the Bologna game Napoli defeated Siena in the last game before the Christmas break. Then they went on to crush Palermo, Roma, and Catania at home while also managing an important away victory in Parma and a draw in Florence against Fiorentina. As January turned into February however, draws became the dish of the day no matter where Napoli played, home or away. In all their undefeated glory the last four games look nice from the distance. In reality it would have served them better in terms of the title race to win two and lose two. Last time Napoli won the championship a win gave only two points, and draws were much more lucrative. Everyone with an interest in SSC Napoli knows all too well that times have changed.

Cavani’s missing goals

One of the reasons behind the lackluster results is Edinson Cavani’s goal drought. El Matador has now played seven games between Serie A and Europa League without finding the net and sending the Naples radio reporters into delirium. Most attackers experience these periods, but in this case it showcases just how dependent Napoli are on the Uruguayan. Without his goals they are a solid team grinding away acceptable draws. With his goals they are snatching last minute victories in difficult games and exploit their superiority in the less difficult. Cavaniai??i??s poor run of form was all too evident against Udinese when he failed to hit the target from yards out, a rare sight from the South American. He was frequently frustrated by Giorgio Chiellini against Juventus and could have been easily sent off for an off the ball incident with the Italian.

Of Cavani’s co-attackers neither Goran Pandev nor Lorenzo Insigne has the goal scoring instinct to step up when Cavani fades. The newly bought ai???vice-Cavaniai??? Emanuele CalaiA? might be the same kind of player, but there is a considerable gap in quality between him and Cavani, regardless of the latterai??i??s form. Marek Hamsik has been outstanding for Napoli during Cavaniai??i??s bad patch but even the Slovakian, despite his considerable skills, will never be able to fill up the big boots of the Uruguayan, who remains as Serie Aai??i??s top scorer despite the poor run of form.

Mazzari’s shuffling around

Since his takeover from Roberto Donadoni in the autumn of 2009 Walter Mazzarri has deployed a 3-5-2 system with three central defenders and wing backs. The personnel has changed over the years, but even through the occasional changes Napoli has very much been a team of 11 starters with a handful of reserves rather than a 25 man squad and a rotation system like Inter and Milan. Now however there are a few signs that this policy is changing slightly.

With the arrivals of Pablo Armero from Udinese and the young midfielder Josip Radosevic from Hajduk Split, depth has been improved significantly and normal starters like Zuniga and Inler now face competition. In defence Britos and Gamberini are pushing for starting spots, thereby forcing Hugo Campagnaro to prove himself every week. In the attack it’s Insigne and Pandev battling it out. These are good signs for Napoli, since it not only forces the players to deliver but also gives Mazzarri the chances to shuffle the system around as he did in the second half against Juve, where he quite successfully left his 3-5-2 for a 4-3-3. Mazzarriai??i??s gamble did bear fruit against Juventus as Napoli, who were outplayed in first half, regained their foothold in the second period and created a number of goal-scoring chances.

All in all Napoli must still be considered hot favorites for the second place and Champions League qualification, but in order to achieve that they need to win some more games and get Cavani going again. And given AC Milanai??i??s recent resurgence and the fact that the Rossoneri are the most in-form team of 2013, Napoli cannot to afford to slip up frequently as it can potentially ruin their Champions League qualification chances as well. If they manage that they might even be able to give it a long shot for Lo Scudetto. The whole of Naples is awaiting the last part of the journey of NapoliAi??anxiously.

Article written by ThorbjA?rn Thaarup
ThorbjA?rn is founder of http://ponderingcalcio.net/

Edinson Cavani’s Slump in Form Contributed To Napoli’s Impotent Unbeaten Run

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