Liverpool jolted by Napoli as crisis-hit Italians rediscover their mojo

Imagine turning up to Liverpool with nothing to say. Arriving in this great city of song with barely a chirrup. Well, it didn’t take Napoli long to find their voice.

Speaking words of wisdom? Certainly not in the run-up to this game. Having found themselves in times of trouble, Napoli’s touchy owner Aurelio De Laurentiis slapped a gag on his team.

Three weeks have passed since a Naples rebellion, when the squad en masse figured that being ordered by De Laurentiis to check in for a week-long isolated retreat at short notice amid a slump in form did not exactly tally with their own plans and did what could be reasonably termed ‘a runner’.

Already disheartened, the week in camp was considered less the salve to their sorrow and more a firework detonated over an open wound.

The revolt looks set to cost Napoli’s players millions of euros, with the sledgehammer diktat of De Laurentiis decreeing, according to whispers and leaks, that each player will forfeit a quarter of their month’s salary. Sky Italia reported some were told only hours before kick-off at Anfield. Further reports say Napoli have fined midfielder Allan and captain Lorenzo Insigne 50 per cent of their November wad.

Forced into their shells, the one player who broke a gagging order on international duty, Eljif Elmas, was carpeted in a terse club statement – called out for spouting positively about the prospects of Carlo Ancelotti’s team chasing a top-two Serie A finish. Perhaps De Laurentiis assumed it sarcastic, given seventh-placed Napoli have looked entirely incapable of scaling those heights.

Under apparent duress, Napoli boss Ancelo
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tti obliged the UEFA paymasters with some cursory words in a pre-match press conference, but ostensibly he said nothing. The “all-time great”, as Jurgen Klopp described Ancelotti in his programme notes, could not afford to be anything but the puppet of his boss, toeing the party line. One foot out of line and Ancelotti risks being put on permanent retreat.

Maybe, then, this was the night Napoli needed, not quite the Anfield smash-and-grab triumph but a match with a deep sense of occasion where they reminded many, perhaps themselves, of their qualities. It was resilience they were relying on at the end, a 1-1 result rewarding their labour. Wonder what the draw bonus pays…

Napoli supporters, in the absence of meaningful explanations from the club, have wondered who to direct their ire towards: should it be De Laurentiis, Ancelotti, or the players who, whatever else might be happening, have continued to flounder on the pitch, draws with Genoa and a Milan side battling their own crisis of confidence telling a story.

17 – Dries Mertens has been directly involved in 17 goals in his last 18 Champions League starts (13 goals, 4 assists), including five in this campaign alone (4 goals, 1 assist). Firing. pic.twitter.com/iK6Q3Pni6a

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 27, 2019

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However, Liverpool were ponderous early on and there was no lack of belief on show when Dries Mertens followed a little playground tussling with Virgil van Dijk by sprinting behind the home backline to finish sublimely in the 21st minute, Napoli
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’s players displayed the delight of a team that actually care, much as their owner may have doubts.

The travelling Neapolitans in the stands, primed to castigate, were instead castling the men in blue and white.

De Laurentiis may be a luminary of modern Italian cinema, a highly prolific producer: his film factory pumps out movies more rapidly than Liverpool used to accumulate trophies, even if some might barely match the heft of a Milk Cup.

But being cast in a drama of his own has seen him tear up the plot and attempt to write one of his own.

Winning at Anfield would have added an unforeseen chapter to this season’s chaotic story, and the hyper-animated Klopp, booked before half-time for one gesture of incredulity too many, was on a personal mission to change the flow, own the script.

A telling substitution saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain take over from Joe Gomez, with Jordan Henderson dropping to a right wing-back role to allow the former Arsenal man to find pockets of space further forward.

Napoli, thinking they had Liverpool’s front three well watched, suddenly had an extra attacker to think about. The giant awoke. And how it roared in the 65th minute when Dejan Lovren’s header from James Milner’s corner rippled the left corner of Alex Meret’s net.

Meret had already dropped one cross at the foot of Roberto Firmino, whose shot was hooked off the line. But as much as Liverpool pressed in the closing minutes, they could not break down the Italians again.

The sight of Andy Robertson steaming into a late challenge showed both sides were up for the scrap. It also showed Liverpool had met their match in a team we thought were in crisis. Appropriately, tonight, Napoli walked through their storm. They rattled the European champions. For the first time in a while, they could hold their heads up high.