Napoli didn't pay start playing well until after they conceded the second goal. They looked slow, lethargic compared to last year, which is what is now becoming a typical Ancelotti team. Mertens coming on obviously gave them an extra edge but the Milan collapse was pathetic and have no one to blame but the players and coach.
I definitely don't agree with the posts saying we should abandon trying to play out from the back, thats exactly how we managed to score the beautiful second goal, but the players completely lacked what they call game awareness and just shit the bed honestly.
I don't think Carlo has much of a future with the Napoli players who brought into Sarri's ultra intense approach. He's going to be disliked by the players just like at Bayern.
I think we need to distinguish some statements made in this post. I have nothing against trying to play out from the back. But when playing superior sides like Napoli, who with ease close our pass-lines and make us suffer in our own third, there really is no point in trying to outplay 20 times per game and only succeeding once or twice.
Agreed, on of our goals came by that. Thanks god we were so untypically cinical with our chances. That said, us leadin 2-nill IMO didn't reflect the game at all. Napoli during 90 minutes conceeded only two chances to us – one of that resulting in a goal because Jack worked some lucky Kung-Fu-magic –, while wasting many good goalscoring opportunities with sloppy executed final shots. That's not what I call "essere padroni del campo", like Gattuso wrongly stated IMO.
If I was a Napoli fan, I'd say we were badly awarded for a very dominant display.
Well, it went like it went. Our team has not (yet?) the class to outsmart all of our opponents. Playing it out from the back is not per se the wrong choice against teams like Napoli or Real or Barca. But it shouldn't be the majority of our tacticall efforts if it's painfully obvious how often we passed ourself into trouble with that.
Actually, Donnarumma trying to stop a ball under pressure gives me shivers every goddamn time. I don't know how much more of that I can handle.