Requiescat in pace Napoli (2017/18)
It means Rest in Peace if you've not played Assassins Creed 2
Latin has several poignant phrases.
“Tempus Fugit” or “Time Flies” could fittingly apply to the Napoli side born next to the ruins of Pompeii, who came second in the Serie A in 2017/18.
The likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens and Faouzi Ghoulam leaving means that five years on, there is no one left from Maurizio Sarri’s preferred starting XI from that memorable season.
But in terms of the campaign itself, I think this passage from Cicero is more poignant:
“Exercitus noster est magnus,” Persicus inquit, “et propter numerum sagittarum nostrarum caelum non videbitis!” Tum Lacedaemonius respondet: “In umbra, igitur, pugnabimus!”
For those of you who are clued up on classical literature, or probably more likely have seen the film 300, you may recognise this exchange1. But to translate it into English:
“Our army is great,” says the Persian, “and on account of the number of our arrows, you will not be able to see the sky (sun)!” Then a Spartan replies, “Then we will fight in the shade!”
The clunkiness in English aside (my Latin teacher wouldn’t be pleased) the final phrase signifies a defiant war cry; a rallying shout in the face of adversity.
Juventus were a juggernaut. They entered the season coming off the back of their 6th consecutive league title and spoiler alert, they would go on to win their 7th at the end of the 2017/18 campaign, but that didn’t discourage Napoli.
It also didn’t discourage Napoli that a southern Italian side had not won the Scudetto since 1989-90 when Diego Maradona had led them to the title. The feeling at that time was comparable to the one felt in 2017/18, it extended much further than football; a cultural momentum.
Marek Hamsik put it best in an interview with the Player’s Tribune in 2017 where he said:
In Naples, football is like a religion, and the Stadio San Paolo (Now the Diego Armando Maradona stadium) is the church.
I’ve watched *a lot* of football in my time, some would probably say too much, but that Napoli side stands out to me as one of the most entertaining while also being a genuine contender. So let’s talk a little bit more about the man whose vision made it great:
Banking on the manager
Smoke rises over the Bay of Naples, but it is not Vesuvius beginning to erupt. Maurizio Sarri is standing on the touchline with a lit cigarette between his lips.
He is an unassuming man, wearing a club-branded polo shirt, his glasses lying slightly too low on his nose and a stoic expression on his face. However, beneath the usually calm facade (as with many Italian managers when he snaps his anger is clear for all to see) you can see a man who is always calculating.
Sarri never played football professionally, the closest he came was two failed trials at Torino and Fiorentina, but he did play at an amateur level. In fact, he didn’t start coaching till he was 30 years old, spending the initial years of his working life as a banker.
But as the Romans said “Faber est suae quisque fortunate”, or in English, “Every man is the artisan of his own fortune.”
His approach to coaching was structured and logical, much like it would have been if he continued to work in finance. and he began working his way up through the ranks.
Napoli was only Sarri’s second team in the Serie A, he spent the first 24 years of his managerial career managing in Italy’s lower division and only broke into the top level with Empoli in 2014/15 before landing the gig in Naples. He was not handed the job, he has fought for it.
So how has this man taken Italy by storm?
Well, the date is 12th March 2018, Napoli are 2nd in the table behind Juventus in Sarri’s second season and the Italian manager is watching on as his team draws with Inter Milan. He should be annoyed, but in fact, he is delighted.
That was the defiance of Sarri, no person or no situation was going to stop him from playing his brand of football; he was going to fight in the shade. And in this Inter match, he saw his tactics executed perfectly:
“We aren’t feeling any pressure, absolutely not. I probably just saw our best performance as we didn’t give anything away to a very strong team.
“It’s likely that our attention to the defensive phase of play, cause a bit of lucidity up front. In the second half we had total domination.”
I could have looked to the 6-0 against Benevento, the 4-2 against Udinese or even the 4-1 against Lazio, but this is the game that truly encapsulates what a Sarri team should do.
But what is Sarri-Ball and why was it so effective?
‘Dominio Totale’
The man himself used the best phrase to describe his brand of football in his interview; it’s total domination. Sarri wants his team to completely suffocate the opponent and stop them from playing football.
Sarrismo, as it is known in Italy, was actually added to the Italian Encyclopedia in its neologisms section to refer to a ‘utopian ideal’ in honour of the Italian manager who created it.2 He strives for perfection in every aspect of the game.
“The goal must always be utopian, setting perfection as our goal, we will always be dissatisfied and we will always have reasons to improve.”
Sarri wants to have as much possession as possible and minimise the number of opportunities the opposition has to win the ball back and attack themselves. He wants to create handfuls of chances and finish as many as possible.
It’s total football but with emphasis on the former word rather than the latter, and it completely changed the landscape of Italian football.
Before Sarri, there were two competing ideas, structure and individuality, a player could focus on one or the other, but the Italian dared to ask the question why can’t both coexist across the whole team.
So what would a typical lineup look like? Well below we see Sarri’s go-to starting XI in the match we discussed above against Inter, with Mario Rui filling in for an injured Ghoulam:
In some ways, Sarri’s style of football shares similarities with Pep Guardiola’s ‘Tika Taka’, the team needs to keep hold of the ball and pass it vertically up and down the pitch.
The left-back would push forward to provide width while Insigne would tuck in to find goal-scoring positions and operate in the half-spaces. Jose Callejon would hold the width on the right while Elseid Hysaj would act as a third centre-back and protect the defence.
Sarri also implemented what he called ‘circuit training’. Players would go through set drills and moves on the training ground with a view to being able to pull them off without thinking on the pitch. With multiple different variations available to them they would hopefully never be left without any options.
Sarrismo, or Sarri-Ball as it became to be known in England, was about creating a team that was better than the sum of its parts, but he could do it without one player in particular…
Jorginho the Metronome
86.7 passes on average per 90 minutes played with a pass completion rate of 89%, that is what Jorginho brought to every game for Napoli.
Jorginho is a criminally misunderstood player from a fan perspective, but incredibly well respected by his peers, as shown by his third-placed Ballon d’Or finish in 2021.
He isn’t flashy nor a world-beating midfielder on his own, but he keeps a good side ticking. And at Napoli, he had Marek Hamsik (a player who deserves his own article)3 and Allan to compliment him.
He was the beating heart of the Italian side, everything flowed through him and it makes sense why when Sarri moved onto Chelsea the following season, he demanded that the Brazilian turned Italian midfielder (or as some began to label him, his son) was brought with him.
While he was at Chelsea, Sarri spoke highly of Jorginho telling the club’s official website:
“He has technical ability but Jorginho also has a great mental speed, too…I think Jorginho is a wonderful player.”
Sarri relied heavily on Jorginho, as without him Napoli would not have been able to progress the ball vertically from the defence with any sort of consistency.
But the centre-back who was consistently playing the ball to him became just as important…
Koulibaly the Gladiator
When asked to recount his time under Sarri, Koulibaly has referred to the Italian manager as a ‘crazy man’ and in an interview with the Player’s Tribune he went on to elaborate further:
Sarri looks at me and says, "No, no, no. I need you tonight, Kouli. I really need you. You can't go."
"I say, "This is the birth of my son, Mister. You can do whatever you want to me. Fine me, suspend me, I don't care. I am going."
"Sarri looks so stressed, and he is smoking his cigarette. Smoking, smoking, thinking ... then finally he says, "O.K., O.K., you can go to the clinic. But you have to be back for the match tonight. I need you, Kouli!"
Now some would say this is a prime example of how important Koulibaly was to the Napoli manager… until you find out that the tale ends with the Senegalese centre-back turning up to the game only to be placed on the subs bench as punishment.
But Koulibaly was an important piece of the puzzle for Sarri despite this occurrence, and that is because the defender is one of the best in the Serie A. This was the case in 2017-18 and has remained so right up until his recent move to Chelsea at the age of 31.
Koulibaly is the complete defender, he is great on the ball, strong in the air, has good recovery pace and intelligence to stop attackers 1-on-1 as well as the positional awareness to cut out many attacks before they even reach dangerous areas.
He formed a formidable partnership with Raul Albiol throughout the 2017/18 season, conceding 29 goals; only beaten by Juventus and third-placed Roma.
But he also was important in possession, averaging 77.1 passes per 90 minutes played; many of which were played between himself and Jorginho as they looked to draw the opposition out and create opportunities to progress the ball quickly up the field.
However Sarri-ball didn’t gain its reputation just on an ability to defend… no, it was the attack that really caught people’s attention…
Little and… Little
Mertens and Insigne, the former 5’7 the latter 5’4. Alongside Jose Callejon (who is 5’10) they formed the forward line of this formidable Napoli side.
Mertens had been signed from PSV Eindhoven for only £8.5m while Insigne came from the club’s academy. Like most of Napoli’s lineup, they were low-cost solutions to upgrade the squad, but no one could have truly realised how devastating they would be.
Mertens scored 22 goals (10 less than his previous campaign) and registered 12 assists in 17/18 in all competitions while Insigne returned 14 goals and 13 assists (from 90 chances created).
The irony is that Sarri never intended to play Mertens in the False 9 position, but after an injury to Arkadiusz Milik, his hand was forced. Recounting the event in an interview with UEFA.com, Mertens said:
“In the first season with Sarri I only played six games as a starter. So I was always mad, [but he would say:] 'You are so important for me, for the team, and don't worry, you'll have your chances.' One day he put me as a striker and I'm very happy [he did] because it changed my life. He just put me there and said: 'I'm sure you're going to do it well.'
“It's incredible because I never came here to be the all-time top scorer of this club.”
It turned out to be a good decision as the Belgian went on to become the club’s record goalscorer, surpassing Diego Maradona and Marek Hamsik.
The mobility of this forward line was what made it special; able to find the gaps in opposition defences. Both players’ small statures likely helped, allowing them to be more agile and change direction at pace.
So why did everyone fall in love with Napoli?
Well as a commentator would put it, they ‘played the beautiful game the way it should be played’.
They dominated their opponent with slick passing, tried to score a number of goals in most games and added flair and individuality into the mix as well. But what also helped their legend was that they were the underdogs.
This wasn’t the all-dominating Juventus, this was the plucky challenger to the crown Napoli showing the Bianconeri how the game should be played, and it endeared the footballing world to them.
Like I stated earlier, they were also channelling something that can’t be quantified just in the realms of football, it exemplified culture and class; tribalism at its very core.
And of course, as the last members of that 2017/18 team have departed the club, fans have reminisced about watching them on TV…
While others were lucky enough to see them live…
As the old Latin phrase says, "Ad Astra per Aspera." or as it translates in English, “Through adversity to the stars”.
They didn’t win the title; some of the players were actually able to pinpoint the moment that it slipped out of their grasp. After a stunning victory against Juventus which put them within touching distance of the Scudetto, the player’s mentality fell apart on the plane home.
But I’ve watched enough Rocky movies to know that sometimes, you don’t have to be victorious in order to win the hearts of the masses, and their hard work and dedication has written their name into the memories of the Napoli faithful and the footballing world.
300 is Zach Snyder’s best movie, because it’s only the one where is directing style fully works