Watching Napoli should come with a health warning -- particularly when they're up against a weak side, as they were Sunday at Novara. The partenopei may have pulled it off in Spain midweek, defeating Villarreal to progress to the knockout round of the Champions League, but for much of their league match, they looked absolutely woeful. It was the home side that scored first, through Ivan Radovanovic, but Napoli managed an equalizer in the 83rd minute, through the foot of Blerim Dzemaili.
Novara Vs. Napoli, 2011 Serie A: Fulltime, Napoli Squeeze A Point Through Blerim Dzemaili
One might be tempted to give more credit to Napoli. After all, Attilio Tesser set his squad up in a defensive 5-3-2, trying to stifle the flood of goals finding their way past Samir Ujkani. But the blame is all on the partenopei, who regularly failed to string together passes, kicked the ball into touch, and sent their crosses to invisible players. Fortunately for Walter Mazzarri, Morgan De Sanctis was one of the few Napoli players who retained control of all his facilities -- otherwise there surely would have been a greater goal deficit for the visitors to overcome.
Even the fault for Novara's goal could not be placed entirely on the Napoli goalkeeper. Radovanovic produced a stunning free kick that scrambled through a blur of players, catching De Sanctis off guard. The ball sailed into the back of the net for Randovanovic's first goal of, not just the season, but in Serie A. Good timing, dude.
Napoli did their darndest to walk away with no points at all. Substitute Camile Zuniga hit a shot that hasn't yet been found, but scientists are confident a strong telescope will do the trick. But it was Marek Hamsik, normally so composed, that produced the true groan, attempting a shot while turning but completely flubbing his kick. Fortunately for Hamsik, Mazzarri's wrath will be tempered by Dzemaili's quick work, grabbing the ball and putting it in the back of the net while the Novara players were still bent over laughing.
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