Udinese vs. Napoli: Final score 1-0, Napoli’s poor form continues

A goal in the 71st minute from Danilo after yet another mistake by Napoli's defense gave Udinese a valuable win -- and made the Neapolitans' bad start to the season even worse.

At this point, Napoli coach Rafa Benítez seems desperate. He tried to shake things up a bit by rotating the squad heavily heading into this match, leaving Marek Hamšík, José Callejón and Dries Mertens on the bench. It didn't work at all. It was expected that Napoli would build on the midweek Europa League win against Sparta Prague, but instead, it was an unwatchable performance and while it's too early to say for sure, it's hard to see this side improving enough to challenge for the scudetto.

That is not to say Udinese was good, by any stretch of the imagination. Just like last week against Juventus, Andrea Stramaccioni's team showed almost nothing, but were lucky to face a dreadful opponent. Not that spectators at Friuli cared -- a win is a win, especially against one of the so called big teams.

There is not much to say about the game itself. The first half saw one dangerous attempt by Napoli midfielder Walter Gargano, whose shot from about 20 meters out ended up on Orestis Karnezis' left post. Besides that, it was endless fruitless possession by the partenopei. They did go close to taking the lead in the 64th minute, but Udinese keeper Karnezis made a double save on Gonzalo Higuaín and Callejón to keep the status quo. It would have probably stayed that way until the end, had it not been for Napoli's awful set pieces defending.

Antonio Di Natale's 71st minute cross wasn't looking particularly dangerous, until Kalidou Koulibaly headed it straight on Danilo's foot, leaving the Brazillian with a routine finish past Rafael. The visitors spent the next 20 minutes looking for an equalizer, but never really got close to scoring past Karnezis.