The eve of Napoli-Roma will begin tomorrow in Caserta. In the retreat of the hotel that stands out on the horizon on the Autostrada del Sole, found in the middle of a crazy crowd in the city and surrounding areas, due to the contemporaneity of the long bridge which from today will lead directly to May 1st. Naples is packed, tourists galore, an air of celebration everywhere despite the climate not being exactly spring-like, but certainly not comparable to that of a year ago. Especially at the Castel Volturno sports center, yesterday wrapped in a cloak of freezing wind. In every sense. At the beginning of the week, Calzona dictated the rules and the first measure agreed with the president: a quick withdrawal, for the moment, who however could also add lightning and thunderbolts if a reaction worthy of the name is not staged against Roma. The draw with Frosinone and the defeat at Empoli, underlined by a decidedly soft and indeed soft attitude to quote the words of the coach himself, have the race for Europe has been almost irreparably complicatedturning on the consequence switch. Contained for now: if there is no clear and immediate trend reversal, the retreat will become prolonged.
Naples at work
Yesterday, the third day of a redde rationem week, Calzona and the players worked and talked for a long time. Of football, of team things, and therefore alone: you have to prepare for a very delicate match and you need the right concentration. And so, after a couple of training sessions focused more on the athletic part, on physical work, the coach and his team dusted off themed games and technical-tactical exercises. To begin to understand the composition of the team that will take to the field from the first minute on Sunday to challenge Roma, however, we will have to wait a little longer: Calzona was very clear with the team, Whoever is better and who has shown the right attitude during training will play.
Calzona’s choices
The certainty is that the head coach will have all the men in the squad at his disposal: just enough time to find Olivera back in the group, yesterday still involved in a personalized work session but now recovered from the muscle injury that made him miss the last two games, and then the range of choices will also become very wide. Compared to Empoli, something will certainly change. Especially in defense: in addition to the Uruguayan full-back, in fact, Rrahmani and Mario Rui will also be available again after the disqualification round. Both serious candidates starting from the first minute. Calzona, however, has doubts in all departments. And only one certainty: there are no untouchables, including the big names.
