Tactically, we have to start from the match before: Napoli lost to Villarreal in the Champions League, and Massimiliano Allegri changed several players in his starting eleven for the trip to Venice. Kevin De Bruyne and Rasmus Højlund started on the bench. Rested.
Rested. I read the word twice in my folder. At my place, when a player starts on the bench, it’s not to protect him. It’s because he’s got a christening, or his car is in the garage, or he’s the only one who can drive the minibus to pick up the kids at five. Rotation is something I suffer. Allegri chooses it. I note the difference without bitterness, mind you.
Akor Adams scored in the 49th minute, just after the restart. Five minutes later, in the 54th, De Bruyne and Højlund came on together. Double substitution. I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is. My own double substitution is the keeper going off because his son has football at the same time, and the club delegate looking for a towel for the substitute.
And the plan almost worked. Højlund won a penalty in the 68th minute after a foul by Matías Moreno in the box. De Bruyne stepped up, and Filip Stankovic, the Venezia goalkeeper, saved it. According to VoetbalPrimeur, it’s the third penalty miss of his career. Three. I did the count for my team this season and put the calculator down out of respect for my players.
Venezia had no points after six rounds. They took their first three of the season on Saturday, with a new coach on the bench, Davide Nicola. I won’t draw any conclusions. At my place, the new coach was just the one who was still there when the previous one went fishing.
“Freddy, how many points did you have after six rounds?”
We’ll talk about that another time. Napoli stay ninth with ten points. Next time I rest someone, I’ll say it like that at the clubhouse bar. It sounds better than “he had the minibus.”
It’s true, we checked: Voetbalkrant.
