Napoli's pressing collapse leaves Politano searching for answers before Porto
Matteo Politano says Napoli are defensively fragile and must drop the injury excuse as Antonio Conte's side try to save their Champions League campaign in Porto.
Napoli go to the Estadio do Dragao on Wednesday with one win from three Champions League matches, and Matteo Politano has stopped short of blaming the club's injury list for a defensive record that has turned a promising campaign shaky.
The timing is awkward. Napoli lost 2-0 away to Juventus in Serie A at the weekend, and now face a Porto side managed by Max Allegri that has lost all three of its own league-phase games so far, according to Football Italia.
Why conceding has become a collective problem, not a back-line one
Politano's own description of the issue is the most revealing part of this. He called Napoli "fragile at the moment" and said the team "can't seem to defend as well as we did in previous years," pointing specifically to a drop in determination when pressing the opponent, Football Italia reported.
That matters tactically because it locates the problem upstream of the back four. A team that presses with less intensity invites the opponent further up the pitch before applying pressure, which compresses the space the defence has to work with and increases the number of one-on-one duels defenders face in dangerous areas.
Assistant coach Marco Landucci reportedly confirmed that players dropping off when defending is not something instructed by the coaching staff, which frames the issue as execution rather than design. Politano reinforced that reading himself, insisting that "when we concede goals, it's everyone's fault and not just the defenders, this is a team sport."
The shape question Napoli still have not resolved
Napoli have not settled on a system to address it. Politano said the club had not yet tested the starting line-up and did not know whether they would play with a back three or a back four against Porto, though he added it made no difference to him personally.
That uncertainty is not a small detail against this particular opponent. Politano described Porto as a side that "attack in numbers and know how to keep the ball for long spells," which suggests Napoli are likely to spend periods without possession and need a settled defensive block rather than a system still being worked out in training.
A back three built around wing-backs can offer extra cover against a team that commits numbers forward, but it also changes who presses the ball-carrier and how quickly the shape can shift between a mid-block and a low block when pinned back. Choosing between the two on short notice adds risk to a side already lacking cohesion out of possession.
Porto's weakness offers Napoli an outlet, if the transition works
Napoli's route out of that passive period, by Politano's own account, is the counter-attack. He said there would be moments of being "pinned back, waiting to then launch forward," which puts a premium on quick, direct transitions once the ball is won back.
That plan depends on timing and discipline that Napoli have not consistently shown. Politano's own back-pass error contributed to a 3-1 Champions League defeat against Villarreal after Napoli had led the match, a reminder that transition moments cut both ways when concentration drops at the wrong instant.
Porto's winless start in the competition theoretically makes them there for the taking, but Allegri's side still had the attacking numbers to make Napoli's pressing shortfall a central issue of the night. Politano framed the fixture as an immediate chance to put things right, saying the quick return to European action after the Juventus defeat meant Napoli could "prove ourselves all over again."
Napoli sit behind Porto only on the head-to-head logic of one win against zero, and both sides need the points in a group phase that has punished them equally so far. The performance in Porto, more than the result alone, will show whether the pressing and shape problems Politano described are being fixed or simply being talked about.