Allegri’s downfall began way before his Napoli spell

Massimiliano Allegri’s Napoli have lost seven of their 14 games across all competitions this season, raising serious questions about whether the Italian tactician has now passed his prime.

Napoli’s disappointing form has left supporters questioning the team’s performances while the topic of whether is BetMGM worth signing up to in the UK also comes into focus.

Their latest 4-1 loss against Porto in the Champions League marked their seventh defeat in 14 matches across all competitions, leaving coach Allegri on the brink.

The defeat in Portugal also showed division in the Napoli dressing room. Loreno Lucca openly confronted Kevin De Bruyne on the pitch, while Matteo Politano said that only Italian players show up to talk to the media after defeats.

Last but not least, Rasmus Hojlund admitted he disagreed with Allegri, who said Napoli’s performance against Porto was decent until minute 70.

It’s fair to say the signs of Allegri’s downfall were already clear in the second half of the 2025-26 campaign at Milan.

As journalist Giovanni Capuano reported, Allegri has lost 14 of his latest 27 matches in the dugout, winning just 10 and conceding 40 goals in the process. Shocking numbers for a coach who has always built his footballing idea around the team’s unity and defensive solidity.

Inevitably, pressure is mounting around the Livorno-born coach who signed a three-year contract with Napoli last summer.

“You win and lose matches on details, not the big things, but the small ones. The team fought and chased Porto around man for man as long as they could, but then we ran out of fuel,” he said after the defeat to Porto.

“I had a similar season at Juventus; I’ve been through this before. The only thing we must do is keep working, fix a few things, have that extra metre and extra bit of concentration in certain moments.

“This evening was a better performance than the one we saw on Sunday in Turin, certainly.

“We made mistakes on two set plays, the team had in my view a good performance up to the 70th minute,” he added.

“It was an aggressive performance; we went man for man, but then conceded this second goal on a bouncing ball, and with fatigue we didn’t push up in time for the offside.

“These are errors that unfortunately can happen when you are tired. The tempo is high in the Champions League, and in those final minutes we were struggling, as they hit the crossbar twice just before the goal and were cutting through us fairly easily.”