Two games, two defeats, zero points — and the worrying part for Napoli is not the table, it is the pattern. The 3-1 defeat at Villarreal on Tuesday was not a freak night of bad luck. It exposed, in ninety minutes, every tactical fault line in Massimiliano Allegri's European project: a back three that stretches, a midfield that neither presses nor protects, and a star playmaker who does not agree with where his manager wants him to play.
Our match report told the story of the night itself — the early lead, the collapse, the wonder goal. This is the other story: why it keeps happening. Napoli have scored one goal in two Champions League games, that goal came from a centre-back following in a set-piece rebound, and they followed a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal with a performance Allegri himself described as a clear step backwards. Domestically this team can look controlled. In Europe, so far, it looks confused.
Problem One: A Back Three That Stretches Instead of Protecting
Allegri switched to a three-man defence for Saturday's 3-0 Serie A win over Frosinone and kept it in Spain. The official UEFA line-up shows the shape clearly: Amir Rrahmani, Rafa Marin and Benoit Badiashile across the back, with Matteo Politano and Giovanni Di Lorenzo pushed high as wing-backs. Against Frosinone, it looked like control. Against a side willing to run in behind, it became a liability.
As Football Italia noted in its post-match analysis, the back three left Napoli wide open to counter-attacks and exposed a lack of pace in defence — and Allegri's own words point to the same flaw. A strong team, he argued, does not get stretched out, yet his side repeatedly did, with players trying to solve problems individually instead of holding the shape together. When a back three stretches, the wing-backs are caught high, the outside centre-backs are dragged into wide areas they are not quick enough to defend, and every turnover becomes a race Napoli are built to lose. That is a structural problem, not an individual error — even if the equaliser in Spain came from one.
Problem Two: Build-Up That Invites the Press, a Midfield That Does Not Press Back
The second fault is two problems wearing one shirt. In possession, Napoli's build-up in Spain was ponderous: Allegri complained afterwards about a series of short passes in midfield that served no purpose except to give Villarreal time to press, leaving defenders isolated under pressure when the ball went backwards. Politano's disastrous back-pass was the extreme version of a habit the whole team had — playing safe, slow balls in exactly the areas where a pressing opponent wants them.
Out of possession, the mirror image was just as damaging. Allegri conceded his defenders performed reasonably but were left exposed because the midfield did not press or help out — and a team that allows long shots and second balls around its own box, as Napoli keep doing, will keep conceding the kind of goals that decide tight European games. A Champions League midfield has to do one of two things: squeeze the game so the defence can step up, or sit and screen so the defence is never isolated. Right now Napoli's does neither for long enough, and the defence pays for the indecision.
Problem Three: The De Bruyne Dilemma at the Heart of It
Every tactical argument in Naples now runs through one player. Allegri wants Kevin De Bruyne as a deep-lying playmaker, dropping towards his own midfield to start moves. De Bruyne, by his own admission after the Frosinone game, is not a fan of the solution. In Villarreal it boiled over at half-time: Allegri asked De Bruyne to drop back so Scott McTominay could push further forward — the Belgian has the technique, McTominay the attacking thrust — and admitted afterwards the two simply did not understand each other on the pitch.
The context matters. McTominay was making his first start in five weeks after heart surgery, so the engine Allegri wants arriving in the box is still running at reduced power. Billy Gilmour offers tidy circulation but not ball-winning bite, and with Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa among six players ruled out in Spain, Napoli had no destroyer to balance a midfield built around two creators. The result is the worst of both worlds: De Bruyne too deep to hurt teams in the final third, and nobody behind him winning the ball back when moves break down. Until Allegri and his best player settle on one role — and it has to be settled soon — Napoli's midfield will remain a negotiation instead of a unit.
Problem Four: Plenty of the Ball in the Wrong Places, Too Little Threat Where It Counts
The final-third numbers complete the picture. Napoli had 48 per cent possession in Spain but managed 11 shots to Villarreal's 17 and only three on target, and their single league-phase goal so far came from a defender. Allegri has now said the same thing after two straight games: his side create attacking situations and then make the wrong decisions in the final third — the extra pass, the narrowed angle, the shot not taken. Rasmus Hojlund works the channels and attacks crosses willingly, but a striker fed on scraps will always look isolated, and isolation is exactly what the tape shows.
Injuries are a mitigation, not an alibi. Alessandro Buongiorno's absence weakens that back three, Anguissa's removes the midfield's legs, and a squad missing six men in October has a right to look tired. But Arsenal at home and Villarreal away were both winnable games played, for long spells, on Napoli's terms — and Napoli took nothing from either. That is decision-making and structure, not just personnel.
So What: Bodo/Glimt at Home Is Now a Must-Win
Six league-phase games remain, so nothing is finished — but the margin has gone. Napoli host Bodo/Glimt next in Europe, a fixture that was supposed to be a banker and is now effectively a knockout tie: lose it, and even the play-off places start to look distant. Before that, Allegri takes his side to Venezia in Serie A on Saturday with the same questions waiting — does he persist with the back three, does De Bruyne start deep or further forward, and can McTominay's minutes be built up without breaking the balance again? The answers cannot wait for January. They have to come from the training ground this week.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Our verdict is blunt — Napoli's Champions League problems are of their coach's making, and only their coach can fix them. Allegri was hired to make Napoli hard to beat in Europe; instead he has built a side that stretches at the back, dithers in the middle and wastes what it creates, while arguing in public with the most gifted passer in his squad about where that passer should stand. The talent is real — De Bruyne, McTominay and Hojlund would start for most teams in this competition — but talent arranged badly is just expensive confusion. Simplify the shape, free De Bruyne to create where he is dangerous, and win the Bodo/Glimt game, or this league phase will be remembered in Naples as the season Europe exposed the project. Is Allegri's system the problem, or do Napoli simply need their injured stars back? Tell us in the comments.
