Serie A/Bunesliga Talking Points #2393

Serie A/Bunesliga

Atalanta Exposed Napoli

Antonio Conte took over a sinking ship in Naples as he returned to Italy hoping to bring Napoli back to the top. So far it has worked to a degree. In terms of the points, they have collected. However, that's not the entire story here. Napoli went through various controversial decisions in the summer. While they had strengthened in a few areas They certainly made some massive mistakes. Victor Osimhen The season before last led Napoli to the title. On top of that scored 35 goals that season his highest goal total of his career. He created a marvelous Duo with one of the league's best players Kvaratskhelia At the time in his first season. Not only did they win the title, but they also made it out of the round of 16 of the Champions League for the first time in their history. They were taught a lesson in the semi-final against AC Milan. However, they brought a title to Naples for the first time since 1985. They did this one year after the passing of Diego Maradona. Victor Osimhen consistently has proven to be one of the best strikers in Italian football. Although he averages about 18 goals a season. He always seems to find his moment in the big games. Against the top six, he always seems to step up in a big way. Something that we would have thought would be useful to Napoli. However, Napoli mishandled themselves in regard to the Nigerian Striker. Last season they struggled finishing 10th in the league. Although he still got decent numbers, he was the brunt of a lot of criticism. They even made a TikTok video that was later deleted. Mocking him for missing a penalty. The president then tried to put cold water on his departure by trying to move him out so shortly after signing a new contract. In addition to that, he blamed him for everything. Antonio Conte decided to ship him out. The thought was that the Italian tactician would have appreciated a physical Striker like Victor who would have fit into Conte's Napoli like a glove. Instead, it's a vastly different situation. He dumps him for Lukaku someone he had worked with at Inter. Milan. Lukaku is a good Striker who puts up decent numbers. However, that being said, he has always struggled in the big games when it matters the most. This is how everything started. The reason I bring this up is because if Napoli falls short of the mark. It will come back to that decision that was made. That's not to mention that they gave Lukaku his number before he departed. They froze him out. Napoli had a rude awakening in their opening game against Verona. However, ever since then, they have been consistent and they've played extremely well throughout the season. They have taken advantage of sloppiness coming from Inter, Milan, and Juventus with some of the teams that were expected to perform well early. Struggling with a little bit of some inconsistencies. Napoli after that first loss took every point available. They drew with Juventus before this past weekend. However, and have one victory against remarkably average AC. Milan. Outside of that, all of their points have come from teams in the bottom half of the table. They haven't beaten any team that currently sits in the top six. The vast majority have come from beating up on the bottom. At home on Sunday afternoon they had a test. Over the next month, they will be tested with many strong opponents that they will have to inherently deal with and prove that the fat that they sit at the top of the table has a sense of validity surrounding it. The Europa League winners rolled up in Naples and crushed Napoli. Atalanta was a level above the Naples side. Adam Lookman scored twice as they could not find an answer for him. He punished them on more than a couple of occasions. Charles De Ketelaere dropped two assists. Then Mateo Retegui continues to be one of the most prolific goal scorers this season as he provided them with the kiss of death. In the end. Napoli does not have a kind month. Since the start of the season, they have played two teams in the top five. Atalanta & Juve have underperformed in both matches. They were beaten by the Bergamo side and against Juventus. They just defended trying to avoid defeat at all costs. They did beat AC Milan. I'll give them credit for that one because even though they are remarkably average this season they are in the top half of the table. However, they are the only team they have beaten in the top half of the table. They had two chances against Juventus and last weekend against Atalanta They were taken to the shredder. Their next couple of fixtures follow Inter Milan this weekend. Almost certainly a loss. Then they have to play Lazio twice once in the league and once in the cup. We are talking about potentially two more losses this season. Inter Milan has a chance this weekend to LeapFrog the situation and go to the top of the table. They are only one point behind. Napoli deserves a lot of credit for the way they have performed this season, but it's really hard to effectively tell whether this is a legitimate title contender. Now the media will tell you they are. However, until they get through these couple of fixtures that will test them. It's not clear that they are the contender everybody thinks they are. If they go on to lose to both Inter Milan and Lazio then this whole thing was a ruse based on what we saw at home against Atalanta It looked like by all stretches of the imagination that they were exposed. In the next 3 weeks. We'll know one way or another, however, this could be a tipping point of a possible collapse.

Did Dortmund Figure it out or is this a Trick?

Dortmund has been a disaster all season. I have covered Dortmund possibly more than any team in the league this season. It's not because I like to gang up on them. However, the resolve of what we've gotten versus what we've expected is not the same. Sahin came in this summer to replace Terzic A manager who got them to a Champions League final and won a German cup Aunt on the brink of a title. That's a lot of pressure, especially considering how much Dortmund loved him. Fortunately, the Turkish boss used to play for Dortmund and was highly regarded by the yellow wall. However, from the beginning of the season, it seemingly felt like this wasn't a fit. Primarily because he was going against everything that made this team successful. In the past. He's tried to switch up the identity. It has failed miserably. They have lost to teams like Augsburg, Wolfsburg, and Union Berlin, and overall that has not been great. Been great. There's a lot of pressure on him to turn it around. The biggest mistake he made was not operating the team through Julian Brandt. He also brought in two studded strikers the best young Striker in the league Max Beier and a 30-goal scorer from last season Guirassy. This season Brandt has not been treated as if he is a crucial piece. He's been brilliant this season but essentially through his own doing despite the style of play and the unimportance in him by the coach. Max Beier has barely started and was never given a real chance this season. Guirassy has found the back of the net consistently but the idea wasn't to bring in these acquisitions and not play them together. Dortman's idea was to create a diamond with the two attackers and Julian Brandt as an attacking midfielder or a Winger. It's something he needed to make. Click for Dortmund to hit any of their ambitions this season. After they were lost to Augsburg and Wolfsburg within days of each other, it seemed not only that he was on borrowed time, but his time was running out. However, he finally did what we've all been asking him to do from the very beginning. He found a way to make them click together. He hasn't given this a real shot. However, with all the hope in their favor. On top of all the pressure to get a result against a team, they haven't consistently gotten points against him. Sometime. They hosted Leipzig this weekend. Coming into that match they were joint top of the league. They had won nine of their last 10 matches against Dortmund. They are one of the few teams that have consistently figured out ways to beat them At home. However, He played them together against them and they suffocated Leipzig. Max Beier may be the most underutilized player in the entire Bundesliga this season. Scored his first goal in the black and yellow. Then facilitated the second goal. He ended his night with a goal and an assist in what was an outstanding start for the young German. On the other side. Julian Brandt dictated everything from Midfield. He was played in a place that was in his comfort zone. On top of that, he continually fed the attack and got Dortmund moving completely berating the Leipzig defense. Then Guirassy scored the winner. All three of them contributed extensively throughout the 90 minutes. They end up ripping off an excellent performance. It was the best they've played all season. All it took was Sahin playing them together. It is not a complicated equation. Dortmund are talented and have quality from back to front. Julian Brandt is the best player. It's not particularly close as he has been a top-five player in the league for the last 3 years. He started Max gave him a fair shot and the three names in question. The three names that were supposed to play together in the attack all worked together like an orchestra. I don't know if it was due to a level of desperation from the Turkish boss but certainly the hope would be. He will continue to do this because the reason they are in this uncomfortable situation is because he failed to do so. It looks like everything is clicked and perhaps his desperation ended up delivering the best of outcomes.