Never a dull moment for Benitez's Napoli
MILAN (Reuters) - Dogged by inconsistency last season, Napoli have taken their reputation as erratic performers to a new level this term, leaving their supporters perplexed and exasperated.
In the last week, Rafael Benitez's side have suffered a shock Europa League defeat to Young Boys, beaten Verona 6-2 and drawn 1-1 with Atalanta after missing an open goal and a last-minute penalty.
On Saturday (1400 GMT), Napoli host joint Serie A leaders AS Roma in a game which could be decisive in determining how the rest of their season pans out.
Defeat would leave them 10 points behind Roma, who are level on 22 points with Juventus, and suck them deeper into the midtable pack while a win would move them within four points of Roma.
Fortunately for Benitez, Roma is exactly the sort of match that his team rise to.
Last season they beat Roma at home in both Serie A and the Coppa Italia. In addition they also chalked up home wins against Juventus in Serie A, and Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal in the Champions League.
Yet they undid that by dropping home points against Chievo, Udinese and Genoa and losing to Parma.
This season has been even more topsy-turvy.
It began terribly when they lost to Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League playoff, a defeat which cost them an estimated 38 million euros ($47.80 million) in revenue.
Successive Serie A 1-0 defeats to Chievo and Udinese, followed by a 3-3 draw with Palermo, led to speculation about Benitez's future, but wins over Sassuolo and Torino got them out of the hole.
Last Thursday, Benitez rotated his side for the Europa League trip to Switzerland and angry fans reacted to the defeat by banging on the sides of the team bus as it left the stadium.
Three days later, it all came right as Napoli thrashed Verona and Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain struck a hat-trick, his first league goals of the season.
But, on Wednesday, there was more frustration as Napoli drew 1-1 at Atalanta after Jose Callejon missed an open goal and Higuain, having scored their goal, squandered a stoppage-time penalty.
"We had this match under control from start to finish and deserved to win," said Benitez, whose side are joint sixth with 15 points. "We conceded one shot and one goal and we had so many chances to win.
"Callejon’s miss is truly inexplicable. It’s true we make errors in defence, but above all we wasted so many scoring opportunities. We can only keep working to understand our individual errors and improve on them."
Juventus visit Empoli on Saturday (1700), fresh from an ear-bashing from coach Massimiliano Allegri after their last-gasp defeat to Genoa.
"I've said before that draws can also help you win the title," he said. "We tried everything to win but we can't concede at the death. You don't need 108 points to win the title, just one more than the team in second.
"If we are 30 seconds from time, we must try not to lose. We have to think and improve in terms of maturity."
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(Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
