Allegri and Napoli Reap Benefits of Scheme Change

Massimiliano Allegri was said to be working on tactical tweaks during the break, and he did switch from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 in the Frosinone game. The Partenopei looked more cohesive and tamed one of the early revelations of the Serie A season.

According to Corriere dello Sport, the boss will likely stick with the formation for a while, although some adjustments are on the way. The recent version was particularly aggressive. Kevin De Bruyne starred as a holding midfielder next to Stanislav Lobotka, with two speedsters, Noa Lang and David Neres, flanking Rasmus Hojlund.

Allegri matched Frosinone’s fizzy style with such a move. The Belgian superstar led the way with his first brace since transferring to Italy. However, he made it clear he sees himself more as a box-to-box or no. 10.

The Tuscan gaffer is keen on maintaining a three-man defense, but the endpoint will likely be a more customary 3-5-2. Scott McTominay will soon be able to start after dealing with an arrhythmia. Frank Anguissa isn’t nursing a significant injury.

The Partenopei defense hadn’t been up to the gaffer’s standards, allowing six goals in five matches. Having an extra man helped. Benoit Badiashile fared much better than in his debut.

Our Take on Allegri and Napoli

The timing was a little strange because they had more issues in the midfield in previous weeks, but probably he needed time to fine-tune the formation. They aren’t super deep defensively, but they can keep using it with some injury luck. It was a detour from his MO, as he usually deploys a more vanilla 3-5-2, but the courage paid off. Aurelio De Laurentiis won’t be too pleased, but only the results matter in the end.