Napoli vs Inter - Player Ratings

Cesar = 8.5 – Made some excellent saves. Showed the form of last season which has been lacking too much so far this season. He was beaten on both Napoli’s efforts against the woodwork though, so if it was not for the cross bar and the post he would not have saved us.

Maicon = 6 – Struggled. He tried to get forward, but Napoli did a good job at limiting his danger. Attempted a few attacking passes, but against Napoli did well to keep him at bay. Left a few gaps at the back when roaming forward.

Lucio = 7 – Made a crucial tackle in the first half. Remained strong. Had a lot to do due to how poor our midfield was today, and coped relatively well.

Samuel = 7 Similarly to Lucio, remained strong and had a lot to do due to how poor our midfield was today, and coped relatively well with it.

Santon = 6 - Not a great first half. Was caught out a few times when Napoli applied the early pressure, and was at fault forcing Lucio to make the crucial tackle. Grew and improved in the second half. Was strong and kept Napoli relatively quite down the right wing.

Zanetti = 5.5 – Dependable at times, but gave aware possession too many times for a player of his quality and experience. A serve lack of bursting runs from midfield, which contributed to the isolation of our strikers.

Cambiasso = 5.5 – No a great game from someone who is usually a consistent performer. One of the players most effected an unable to cope with Naopli’s early pressure by loosing possession too many times for my liking. Coped relatively well in the second half, but did not perform to his usual standard and hardly contributed to set any moves going.

Muntari = 5 – One his better games, just. He still gave away too many needless freekicks, collected his token booking and risked getting sent off twice by swinging at a player and arguing with the referee, both when on a yellow card. Still, he got an average rating as he finally put in a decent cross and did not take an shots other than the stunning effort that hit the cross bar (which I am still not entirely sure he meant), which actually turned out to be our second best chance of the game.

Sneijder = 5.5 – Considering he has been rested for the past two games due to suspension I expected more from him. Admittedly, just like Maicon Napoli did a good job in limiting his effectiveness, but he still lacked his normally good vision, positioning, and eye for starting moves and feeding our strikers. His set pieces were also all pretty dreadful tonight.

Milito = 5.5 – Quiet. Only one clear chance. Not all his own fault though. Napoli bossed the midfield and kept both Maicon and Sneijder quiet isolating both him and Pandev. Still, Milito has a tendency to drift in and out of some games, and tonight was an example of when he drifts more in than out.

Pandev = 6 – Was relatively lively and tried to make a few things happen himself when he realised him and Milito were isolated up front. In a game of few very few chances for us he had by best one, and he took it to late and finished badly. He needs to aim for the corners of the goal more, also demonstrated by his three central shots against Parma.

Mariga = 6 – Did pretty well as a second half substitute, and I feel was part of the reason we controlled the midfield, and more importantly the second half more. Gave possession away a couple of times, but played some nice short passes to keep movement flowing and remained strong to win balls. Great movment to set up Pandev’s chance.

Eto = 4 – Achieved nothing when he came on as a fresh pair of legs. Hardly noticed him to be honest. Never got into the game. None of his usual good movement. Offered no goal threat whatsoever. I am still waiting to see the Eto of Barcelona. I hope he is saving it for Chelsea.

Mourinho = 5.5 – Got the defence right as Napoli are a strong attacking team. We need our first choice defence and no experimenting with Cordoba at left back. He picked the wrong formation for me though. He should have played a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 formation. Mazzarri did an excellent job in countering Mourinho’s 4-3-1-2 formation today. Mourinho realised this and changed to a 4-3-3 formation, but too late for my liking as I felt it should have happened at half time. Balotelli should have been called up and brought on instead of Eto, especially after his promising performance against Parma on Wednesday. He made the right decision in substituting Muntari off at half time, otherwise he would have got sent off. Then again, Mourinho has to make that decision every time Muntari starts a game because he gets booked more often than not.