Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli showed no signs of slowing down in their electric 6-1 win over Ajax, continuing their explosive start to the season, details Apollo Heyes.

The Partenopei embarrassed the home side at the Johan Cruyff Arena last night, with Giacomo Raspadori, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Piotr Zielinski, Giovanni Simeone and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia all finding themselves on the scoresheet after a wonderful showing. Napoli have been flying high since the start of the campaign and look the real deal both domestically and internationally.

Here are three things learnt from Napoli’s dominant showing in Amsterdam yesterday.

No Osimhen? No problem

Last season, Victor Osimhen was an incredibly vital figure for Spalletti and Napoli, scoring 14 goals in 27 Serie A appearances. His work guaranteed points in wins over Torino, Hellas Verona and Udinese, but this campaign he’s made much less of an impact.

Osimhen has been out with a hamstring injury for around a month now and Napoli haven’t looked any the weaker, still putting on good shows in five consecutive wins across all competitions without the Nigerian. His absence has allowed players like Raspadori and Simeone to shine up front and given Spalletti significantly more flexibility when lining up his squad.

The fire that burns hot home or away

Facing Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena is always a tough task but Napoli didn’t look any less impressive than in their comfortable home wins over Liverpool, Torino or Spezia. Some top sides often loss a little intensity when on the road but this doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Partenopei, who have carried their confidence over from Campania.

A win of this calibre whilst playing away suggests that Napoli aren’t too concerned about being far from their adoring home supporters, giving them further belief in their abilities to secure victories in other top stadiums around Europe, a factor that could prove key the further they progress in the competition. 

A hunger that cannot be satisfied

Napoli went into the half-time break in Amsterdam 3-1 up yesterday, a position that would’ve allowed them to play a little slower and control the match in the second half. Napoli didn’t do that. Spalletti’s side looked equally hungry for goal in the second half as they did the first, flying out the gate to take a 4-1 lead after just two minutes after the break. 

This strength of spirit is important regardless of the scoreline as it shows that Napoli won’t allow themselves to be satisfied with a two or three goal lead and will continue to go for the jugular regardless, forcing their opponents to stay consistently focused and aware of the danger. 

4 thought on “Three things learnt from Napoli’s UCL thrashing of Ajax”
  1. Sounds crazy but If they continue like this domestically and abroad they could actually do the Treble.

  2. Napoli are refreshed this season with good recruits who are hungry for selection, the team is playing a style not seen in Italy for a while and look confident in every game thus far, credit to the coach and recruiting team, long way to go but the team is looking stronger with each game, great to watch and hopefully we can go far

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