SPAL’s horror run in fixtures away to Napoli continued on Saturday afternoon as a lone Raul Albiol header was enough for a 1-0 win for the home side at the Stadio San Paolo.
Napoli brought their run of consecutive wins over the Emilian outfit to 10 games and brought their home form to 11 wins from the 16 games they have played with a convincing, if anxious, victory.
Although the visitors recent trips to Campania have been far from fruitful but the resilience and composure they showed early in the piece belied that this was a club looking for their first win at the San Paolo in 57 years.
Despite their own attacking forays being limited, they restricted the Partenopei to little real chances of their own for the majority of the first half, which had Carlo Ancelotti looking ever more frustrated and animated as the 45 minutes wore on.
However, he had reason to cheer in the first minute of injury time when SPAL’s resistance was finally broken with what was only the hosts’ third shot on target when a near post Dries Mertens corner was headed home emphatically by Albiol.
SPAL responded well at the start of the second half and carved out a rare, yet decent, opportunity to level when Andrea Lazzari made room on the right-hand side of the area but Alex Meret got down smartly to make the save look comfortable.
Napoli replied with an effort of their own at the other end through Mertens which Alfred Gomis also saved without too much fuss and although Lorenzo Insigne came close to bending one in to put the result beyond doubt, he failed to find the corner of the net.
He turned provider in a bid to wrap up the result but after his pass ended with Mertens rounding the goalkeeper, the Belgian saw his attempt come back off the upright.
It didn’t prove a costly miss though thanks to Alex Meret, who pulled off a stunning last minute save to ensure that Napoli’s Christmas dinner tasted even sweeter.
THE DROUGHTS CONTINUE
Lorenzo Insigne’s run of games without a goal has hit six league games after scoring seven in the previous 10, while it is now at an even more alarming 14 games for Jose Callejon, his second worst ever drought in the Italian top flight.
CREATIVITY NEEDED
Although these aren’t the games that will ultimately determine whether SPAL stay in the division, the fact that they have more points than goals this season is a concern and it wasn’t hard to see why. Although Mirco Antenucci and Alberto Paloschi are decent options for a lower half side, you would be surprised if they don’t attempt to add some midfield cutting edge next month.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com