Rafa Masterclass

                Wolfsburg having lost one game all season at home faced a struggling Napoli, who had their first victory in the league last week since February. What made this game intriguing was not just the quality of players on offer but the clash of two sides with similar style. Both sides play better without the ball – even though Wolfsburg press a little higher than Napoli. Transition is the name of the game – Rafa gave a tactical master class.   

 

Wolfsburg vs Napoli

 Napoli's Defensive shape 

                Not very often we focus on a side’s defense when they have scored 4 (away) goals. What Napoli excelled in that game was maintain the defensive block and press horizontally whenever Wolfsburg tried to overload the flanks.

                Napoli weren’t concerned about Wolfsburg’s first phase of possession – contrary to that Wolves were very keen on pressing higher up the pitch and exploit a vulnerable backline. When Wolfsburg did squeeze the back line they thumped it long either looking for Higuain/Hamsik  thus by-passing their press. Both the centre backs had a combined pass success rate of 63%, Which will be a concern for a possession oriented side but Napoli aren’t one. 

Albiol and Britos Passes

                Napoli’s defensive block of David Lopez/Inler - Albiol/Britos did a exceptional job to press Wolfsburg horizontally and avoid getting overloaded in flanks, which Wolfsburg are really good at – thanks to Kevin De Bruyne. They managed 22 interceptions and 7 blocked passes in the deeper midfield zone or what they call in Germany as Mittelfeldspressing. 

Defensive Block Interceptions

Hamsik's Positioning 

                Its been a long time since I saw Hamsik perform at this level. A lot of credit must go to how Rafa used him in this game. Usually you would see Napoli like a 442 in three bands when they are in the defensive transition state. But in this game Hamsik was deployed a lot deeper and right in the channel of Guilavogui.

                Guilavogui is a very key component to utilize the inner half spaces of the right hand side when KDB / Caligiuri / Vieirinha  combine to overload that flank.  Vieirinha n particular is ambidextrous and can either cut inside or hug the touch line. Bas Dost has scored a lot of Goals from crosses. This is because Wolfsburg often found a extra man down the flank by intelligent midfield runs of Guilavogui and movement of KDB.  Which is why Hamsik’s positioning in this game was so crucial to Napoli’s victory. It didn’t stop Guilavogui from venturing forward but made Napoli lethal when Wolfsburg lost the ball to Napoli’s press.

Hamsik's Positioning

                In a game like this first goal is vital and Napoli got it early – Wolfsburg lost possession on the right flank and it took two passes to cut open their defense. It made life a lot easier for Rafa Benitez’s side. Second goal was not so Napoli’esque when Maggio found Higuain in space resisting a Wolfsburg press and the later picked out Hamsik’s run with inch perfect cross. 

                Third goal came from a sloppy pass from Guilavogui, fourth goal was a simple cross to back post by Insigne where Knoche lost Gabbiadini far too easily.

                Napoli had exploitable weaknesses; Maggio in particular is not very comfortable defending against quality wide players. He was up against a woefully out of form Andre Schurrle. It’s not a surprise the only  Wolfsburg goal came from a Perisic ( late sub) run in the left flank.

              Napoli paid little attention to Luis Gustavo – Wolfsburg created two chances from unusual Guatavo midfield runs.But it was mostly because Gustavo is key for the first phase of transition and Napoli had very little interest in disrupting it and were never prepared for his forward runs.

 But then why we don’t see this Napoli on a regular basis in the league is a million dollar question.

Second leg preview 

                No side has progressed after losing the home leg with more than a two goal deficit in this competition. If Wolfsburg are going to make history they have to do it against a side which has conceded the least number of goals in this year’s edition – 5 goals in 11 games.

 

 

                If that’s not discouraging enough, Wolfsburg will be without Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle out of the game with injuries and Luis Gustavo, Vieirinha doubtful for this leg. With the tie almost over will Dieter Hecking be already thinking about Gladbach in the weekend ? 

 

                Probable line up for the second leg clash, Wolfsburg has nothing to lose in this game. Not expecting any major tactical overhaul from both sides, Napoli in particular thrive under such circumstances.

                 Rafa Benitez’s ruthless pragmatism and micro-management style in all likelihood is going to be rewarded with another semi final berth in a cup competition.